9 hours at 35,000 feet

Let's start this one off with a very general statement: I love flying. 

I enjoy my little seat, tray table, and tiny window (I'm a window seat kind of girl). And the longer the flight, the better.  So the fact that in the past year I've been on 5 international flights of about 9 hours each has been no problem for me.  And my flight back to Germany two weeks ago was no exception, even though it was only with Delta (I mean, Delta isn't bad, but my favorite airlines that I've flown before are KLM and British Airways). 

As many of you will know, flights these days are always packed to the brim. There is usually not a single empty seat, and a handful of people left at the gate who were hoping to be fit in. So as I took my seat, that old shimmer of hope of having my own row didn't even really come to mind. As the seats around me filled, I was joined in my row by a high school girl going to visit friends, and across the aisle an obnoxious graduate student who wouldn't stop talking. After it came out that he was a Florida student, I was a little less surprised by his creepy and inappropriate flirtations with a girl 8 years younger than him. Of course, once the inflight movies started, I would be able to plug in and block out their small talk for the rest of the ride. 

But just as we headed to take off, I started to notice quite a few empty seats. And hark, yonder across the plane and one row up an entire two seat window row was completely empty! So as soon as the seatbelt sign went off I headed for the flight attendants: "If there is an empty seat, is it ok to change?" "Oh honey, if no one is in the seat, you can sit where ever you want."

Done and done.

So for the remaining 8 and a half hours I got to enjoy my mini-pretzels and ginger ale (my favorite airplane combination since as long as I can remember) stretched out over two seats all to myself. 

And one thing I do love about Delta flights is their inflight trivia. I mean, I love trivia in general, but inflight trivia is pretty awesome because you play against the other people on the plane. For the most part I think it was between me, 21F and 32A. 

But even without the movies and pretzels and trivia, I'd still be pretty happy just enjoying the view out my tiny window. Especially getting to see sunrise at 35,000 feet. You have to admit, it's pretty cool.