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Day 2 — At the Capitol Airport and flying out

Just leaving the hotel

I had a great rest and a wonderful breakfast, now I’m on my way back to the airport. It’s just before noon.

At the airport

There are 3 hours before we meet the rest of the group, so we’re spending 3 hours in the terminal waiting. It’s a beautiful terminal that makes me think of Asimov’s science fiction. It’s definitely from another era though, one where you could just walk up to a ticket counter, buy a plane ticket, and just go — no security checkpoint or anything.

Because of the (ongoing!) coronavirus pandemic, there are a lot fewer travelers than I expected. I was at this airport right as everything was kicking off pandemicwise; back then (1 yr ago) many more people were taking flights.

At the gate

We’re about 15 minutes away from boarding the aircraft. We got some conflicting information about traveling to la Eŭropa Unio and had to convince the ticketing agent that Ailment-tests aren’t required anymore to leave. The leader of our group almost began shouting at her; I tried to stay out of it though I did read about the requirements on the governmental website. As far as I can tell, we are right.

The airline demands everyone wear a surgical or N95 mask, so they handed some out. It’s actually a little more comfortable than the mask I was wearing.

In the plane, on the ground

It’s pleasant enough. My seat is a little busted, but I don’t mind. I’m looking forward to dinner in the air and some rest afterward. The crew are refueling the aircraft and we’ll be on our way shortly.

In the air ✈️

Here we go! About six of seven hours remain. The meal service was great, very tasty considering all the precautions that need to be taken. I had chicken and mashed potatoes in a delicious sauce with a nice rice salad and some red wine. Now I’m drinking a cognac digestif to help me sleep. I’ll go brush my teeth after I finish it and do my best to get some rest. It’s not often that I sleep sitting up, so I ought to make the most of it.

Fortunately, we’re going in a direction that facilitates reduced jetlag so it won’t be too hard to adjust (I think).

I kinda wish I had bought in-flight wifi if only to browse geminispace and water my astrobotany plant. Messaging is free, but ♊️ is too obscure to be included even though it probably needs less data to be sent and received.

Lonely 😔 (or homesick)

Tbh I’m feeling pretty lonely right now. It’s what I’ve felt before:

tfw no gf

But I didn’t expect it to appear on the plane. I need to remember what my (married) friends have told me — remember that quality is the key. Lots of people meet each other over dating apps or tinder or whatever, but their relationships are oftentimes short, poor, and dead-ends.

Maybe I’m just homesick. It’s hard to sleep on this flight. I miss that young lady I worked with at the summer camp and feel as if I should have asked her out or something. Or maybe this is from the cognac and anxiety of traveling.

Let not the water-flood drown me, neither let the deep swallow me up: and let not the pit shut its mouth upon me.

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