August 23: Flight

. . . And now I'm sipping champagne in a business class seat on a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt. One of my visitors in Woods Hole, Eleni, has a friend who works for Lufthansa, and she asked him to get me an upgrade. It's one of those kinds where they decide about 5 minutes before the flight leaves if they have room for me, but hey, so far so good. I'm crossing my fingers that I get the upgrade for the second leg from Frankfurt to Bangalore too. It's a much needed rest, since I drove home from Cape Cod yesterday, getting home around midnight, and then rushed around all morning to do the last things that needed doing. I really truly thought I was completely packed, but there are always a few things left to be done. And then suddenly there are 3000 things left to be done and life gets hectic and then I have to call Noah and have him come over and help me pack and pick which books to take with me, and then have him go through the last of my bills that need dealing with, and, and, and. . . .

I was not completely unready, however, I did get some very important things done prior to departure -- both crucial on this current airplane excursion. First of all, I have the tricked-out-est of palm pilots that you ever did see. It has a little keyboard and it's an MP3 player and a digital camera and it pretty much rocks. It's what I'm writing this on on the plane. . . but even more importantly -- I bought a hippo. Do not laugh. It is the softest, coziest, most comforting creature of all time, and I am convinced it is going to solve any and all loneliness problems while traveling alone. Really.