Never believed that I'd ever find myself
Looking up to the upper hand
And loving every minute baby ..
I'm currently in the process of planning a weeks break in Germany for New Year 2013, marking the first time I'll have been back/spoken German in a practical capacity since I came back from Neuerburg in June last year. It feels like an absolute eternity ago so it'll be nice to be back, if only for a week. This time round though I'm aiming at East Germany and hitting up Berlin for the second time with these two gays.
The cheapest flights I can find are with Lufthansa. How nuts is that? I was secretly hoping we'd be flying with GermanWings, if not for their in-flight "happy picnic", then simply because you get to choose your plane seat when doing your online booking and grab the ones by the windows/exits before anyone else.
I remember there was always a disclaimer of sorts when you chose your seat online; something about not being pregnant or ill disabled if you chose a seat near an emergency exit. Of the twelve times or so that I've flown in my life, about half of them were right next to these exits. That was quite a bit of pressure, in retrospect. We all like to think we're gonna be nice and calm in those situations, but I'm fairly certain I'd shit myself and start crying.
In all fairness, there aren't a great many accounts of the person sitting in the emergency exit row really coming to the fore in such scenarios. I've yet to come across a news story that said "The plane and all 200 aboard were surely doomed, were it not for the quick thinking and sprightly actions of the lady in the rear-left emergency exit row".
It feels ages since I've flown. For some people it's always a cool experience, but the novelty has sadly started to wear off for me. I hate the process, too. Make sure your luggage fits. Don't set off the metal detector. Find a toothpaste tube you accidentally left in your hand luggage and have it binned in front of you. Pilots who can't tell you anything without going "uuhhhhhhhh" before they say it.
But having Berlin at the end of it all more than makes up for it. The only negative thing I remember about Berlin was a grumpy incompetent lady in Starbucks on Friedrichstraße. I can't even blame it on us speaking each others language badly, because 50% of it was in Italian and everything else was easy.
Macchiato venti mit caramel, bitch.
