Here I am, sitting on the plane at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, waiting for take-off. I'm in seat 10F, near the middle of the rather small plane. I'm right above the wing.
I looked out the window, and I noticed that it has just begun to rain. I think I saw lightning too. Hope the flight to Philadelphia goes all right.
Announcements being made. Have to put this away till after take-off.
...Oh, wait. Flight delayed for a while until the thunderstorm passes. Ugh. Hope this doesn't take too long. ... Good thing I brought a nice thick book. (Stephen Lawhead's Byzantium - appropriately enough, it is about an Irish monk sent off on a mission.)
The plane is shaking slightly from the storm, and the rain is gushing and pouring down like mad. This isn't the most auspicious sort of beginning for my trip - but I'm in God's hands: the safest place to be.
I, of course, am extremely excited to be traveling overseas for the first time (and hopefully not the last time)! It seems slightly unreal - I've been waiting for so long, planning and preparing since March, and I'm finally here!!
Oh good - the rain is abating, so I hope the storm will be out of our way soon. I wouldn't want to miss the flight from Philadelphia to Dublin and have to catch a later one.
The skies 6:27 p.m. EST
Well, we're up. Finally took off around a quarter after 6. Just after we had gotten up to cloud level, I saw the most beautiful cloud formations - they were too stunning to properly describe, but I shall try.
The sun was mostly obscured by them at first, but then we broke into a more open area of sky that reminded me of a secret underwater grotto, like in The Little Mermaid. We emerged upward into it and across it, and even though the wing is right outside my window, I still had a breathtaking view. The "walls" of clouds spiralled upward, and there were several flat shelf-like banks of clouds jutting out into the middle at different levels. The sun began to appear from the top right, and its light slanted in shafts down through the open area between cloud walls, igniting the tops of the cloud shelves and leaving them a dusky blue-gray underneath. The light was playing so beautifully on all of the clouds! I wonder if even Thomas Kinkade could pull off that sort of effect.
I think we will begin our descent before too long. I've been pausing my writing during some pockets of turbulence. I also have a drink now - but no pretzels. Darn. I love those things.
The skies 8:40 p.m. EST
Just took off from Philadelphia airport a few minutes ago. This plane is the biggest I've ever been on - 2 aisles and 7 seats across. Unfortunately, I don't have a window seat this time. I am in the middle section on the right side of the 3 seats.
I can hardly see anything out the windows - it's been foggy, and now it's pretty dark. No spectacular views this leg of the journey. :-(
The Philadelphia airport is quite big, and I had to shuttle from one end of it to the other to transfer planes. Our incoming flight was late, so I had to rush right over to my next gate and just barely made it.
Can't think of much else to write, besides: it is cold in here. I must rummage for my jacket.
I hope they have pretzels on this flight.
10:23 p.m. EST
Not sure what time zone I'm in now, but my watch is still on EST. We are probably over the Atlantic Ocean, but most people's windows are closed and I probably wouldn't be able to see much in the dark, anyway.
This is a 6-hour flight, so I am about one third of the way into it. Around me I have heard a few different accents, including one lovely Irish brogue behind me to the right.
Had another first-time experience a short while ago as I was served a meal on the plane. It was quite good - cheese tortellini, brown bread and butter, baby carrots, and those cylindrical wafers with chocolate in them.
I really wish I could see the Atlantic from up here. I have waded in it before, but seeing it from a plane is quite different, of course. I bet it would give me a new appreciation for how vast it is. We joke about "hopping the Pond," but it really is a huge ocean. And soon I am going to be on the other side of it!! :-)
I suppose I shall return to reading Byzantium. I don't know if I can sleep on airplanes. Not comfortable enough, not horizontal enough - and I am far too excited about getting to Dublin!
