Hey, it's Tamra. As Kim mentioned, we arrived in London just over 6 hours ago, so we're more than half-way through our layover. I must admit, that first flight was a bit rough. Don't get me wrong. It was nothing we can't handle and there was no real suffering; it just wasn't the smooth, easy flight that normally occurs.
When we got on the plane, you could feel all the heat of Dallas and there was no air moving on that plane. It stayed that way for over half an hour. Even when the air finally started moving, it took quite a while to cool off. For those of you that are normally warm, let me just say that I am almost always cold. I carried a blanket on with me because the one they give you isn't usually enough. This time, about an hour in I put my blanket in the overhead compartment and never needed it. It didn't stay hot, but it was warmer than any of the few flights I've ever taken.
Also, the planes video system was not working. Fortunately, they had a back up system that worked for almost everyone. It just ran certain movies on a continuous cycle, so you didn't know when the movie would start but you could jump in where it was at. Floyd was one of the lucky few who didn't have a functioning control, so his screen was stuck on the same movie for the entire flight. I'm sure it ran through at least 5 or 6 times. I had carried on one book, Not A Fan by Kyle Idleman. I had started it a couple years ago but never finished, so was going to start over.
When they served the meal, they started at the back, so they were out of the more popular choice by the time it got to us. We enjoyed what we got, but the lady in front of us was quite upset because her daughter wanted what they had run out of and wasn't feeling well anyway. I had great sympathy for the flight attendants. :) Also, in the process of distributing so many meals in such a small space, Floyd got to wear some orange juice and I got to wear a little Coca-Cola, followed by some extremely hot tea. The poor attendant didn't realize that his kettle was tipping a little as he reached passed me to hand some tea to Kim while holding the kettle in his other hand. :)
If you've never flown an overnight international flight, they usually put out all the lights for people to sleep. Of course you can turn on your reading light, but other than that it's supposed to be dark. The light in our section wasn't cooperating. It would randomly turn itself back on, startling and waking everyone. The flight attendants could not find a cause for the problem, but they did pass out eye masks to anyone that wanted one. Of course, it was another issue that made things difficult for them, as customers were not pleased.
There was also a lot of turbulence, but nothing too extreme. And to top it all off, with less than 2 hours remaining, a person a few rows behind us re-visited their dinner. They didn't manage to grab the provided bag, so there was a quite a mess to be cleaned up. And just as that settled down, Raegan got a bloody nose; which is no big deal but I had to bother the attendants for some paper towels.
Kim and I had a little chat as we noticed the flight attendants all giving each other a hug and saying some encouraging words just before going to their seats for the landing. Perhaps they do this every time they fly, but we thought that maybe this time they needed it a little more because some people didn't handle all the little issues very well. While the flight attendants can't do anything about most of it, they get to bear the brunt of the frustrations and discomfort. They handled it very well and were quite gracious.
So, none of this was shared as a way of complaining. We made it to London safely and didn't lose anyone or anything, so all is well. It was really shared simply to remind us all that things don't always go smoothly but we must make the best of it. Fortunately, we can say that the flight attendants did not receive any extra frustration from any of us. In fact, I hope they got at least a little encouragement from our positive attitudes. Here's hoping the next flight is a little more settled and smooth, but if not, no worries! We just can't wait to get there tomorrow morning!
Much love to you all! Pray for peaceful flights for the attendants and safety for all. And that all of our luggages arrives with us in the morning.:)
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