It was about that time for me to make my way across the pond. I had all my suitcases packed up and was really excited to get back to work. The only problem is that commuting to my new job involved a 15-25 hour travel day, which is zero fun for average people and even less fun for giant ginger men with large appendages.
I have become a veteran of trans-Atlantic flights and my routine is generally the same with some small variations depending on the time of my flight departure. I always stay up the night before for as long as possible and intentionally deprive myself of sleep. I am usually blessed by the company of friends and family who are there to see me off but the last two trips have seen fewer people swing by since everyone around me is growing up and has these stupid things called jobs.
My parents were gracious enough to drive me to the airport, which allowed my mother plenty of time to get her tears in and smother me with as much mother love as she possibly can before seeing her baby boy move across the world. Pulling up to the airport I collected my things, say my final goodbyes and got ready to be for the small version of hell that airplanes are for anyone over 6-foot-5. If I am extremely fortunate I will get an exit row window seat, if I am fortunate I will get an aisle seat, and if I am being punished for some wrongdoing in the past I am given a middle seat next to the second-largest human on the plane. The latter has happened on my eight-hour flight to Malta, but that was my punishment for yet again skipping out on winter, which in hindsight was a fair trade.
It was Sunday and my flight to Oslo, Norway was not until 7:30 p.m. It would be my shortest travel day of my career, lasting only 12 hours, which is a pretty awesome feeling. My bags were mostly packed and I was able to get up and enjoy a beautiful Sunday morning with my dog Oscar at the dog park after running a few last-minute errands. Upon returning home I was about to do some last-minute packing when my peripheral vision started to get a little and my eyes had a hard time adjusting to the light. At this moment I knew I was about to get a rather large migraine headache which is pretty much like going to the zoo and having a monkey throw its own feces and hitting you square in the face. Translation -- day ruined.
All I could do was take some medication, and a large amount of caffeine, before attempting to lay down and try to sleep this migraine away. Yes, I know caffeine and sleep do not really compliment each other so it was more just resting of the eyes, and waiting for the feeling of yuck to subside.
Both my parents arrived home with some much-needed Coke products and began finishing the packing that I was suppose to do. Thanks to those to wonderful humans for taking care of me, because I was a large pile of uselessness lying on the couch.
About 4 p.m. it was looking pretty grim. I could hardly stand up with out getting extremely nauseas and I was so sensitive to lights that I had to squint through sunglasses. I was feeling slightly better then death and was seriously considering calling the team/airport and postponing the flight. Five p.m. had arrived and I was still in a pretty woeful state but after some protein and more medication I was able to make my way to the car and begin the pre-flight rituals. Upon arrival my wonderful mother helped me with everything including walking me to security before saying our final goodbye.
I then proceeded through security and did my best to hold it together. After a struggle to stay upright and not lose my lunch I made my way to lay on the floor near my gate. I set a few alarms so I would not miss my flight and as well as an alarm about 45 minutes before boarding to properly medicate up for this flight.
Thankfully my sister did a great job of selecting my seats for both flights to Iceland and to Norway. I had an aisle seat near the front, which was a great start to the six-hour flight ahead of me. There were some empty business class seats a few rows ahead of me and after takeover I wispily snuck my way into a very cushy seat and got a couple of hours of real sleep.. It is difficult to be both wispy and incognito as a 6-7 long-locked ginger but at I am able to pull it off from time to time. This was not one of those times and after about three hours I was forced back into my original seat.
I arrive in Iceland and my headache was still lingering around but at a much more tolerable level. I had a quick two-hour layover in Reykjavik Airport and a $30 breakfast which was pretty terrible but I was in much need of sustenance since I had not eaten a real meal in almost 20 hours. I then boarded my last flight of the day to Oslo. This was a quick two-and-a-half hour flight and I was rewarded for being trooper because I had an entire exit row to myself which is better then finding $200 in an old pair of jeans in my opinion.
I was now on my way to my new home and I could stretch out my legs and catch a couple more hours of decent sleep before facing my next set of challenges that come with moving to a new country and being several thousands of miles away from home.
On my next blog my first impressions of Norway, and how to try and get over jet lag quickly.
