HANOI, VIETNAM – I’ll write about more flight adventures later, but I thought I would share with you (especially Dr. Flanagan) about travel and the “American” way of life. What do I mean? Let me tell you my tale:
We get on the plane for Taipei at midnight in Seattle. Getting to the airport, checking in for our flight, boarding the plane – that part was uneventful. But the Northwest has a terrible windstorm that night and we get the resulting ‘rock and roll’ for a few hours at the start of the flight.
They want to serve me food soon. I’m almost sick, but I am saying to myself, “I AM NOT ON A BOAT AND I WILL NOT BE SICK.” This means I have nothing in my stomach for hours.
I tell myself it is nighttime; I am trying to sleep when the turbulence calms down. And I do actually get maybe 5 hours in all. Now I know I don’t feel great, what with the lack of sleep, but about 10 hours into this 12 ½-hour flight, I start to feel pretty bad; I’m getting a severe headache.
I can’t be sick; we’re barely out of town!
I seldom get headaches, even with sleep deprivation, so I’m trying to think what could be wrong. I can’t be getting sick, we are barely out of town! I look at my watch; it is 10:30 a.m. Seattle time and I have not had my usual gigantic morning cup of coffee.
“Ooohhh no,” I say. “It can’t be that. But hey, how soon is breakfast?” Fortunately, breakfast is served soon, and with my initial tiny little child-sized cup of coffee, I am better in just a couple of minutes. This is embarrassing. Worse yet, after my second cup I am feeling great again.
I should maybe sue Starbucks for my addiction? Any of you had a similar experience?
Isn’t it great that a simple cup of coffee can make things right so quickly! I once had a week of headaches, then discovered I had opened a pound of decaf by mistake! Tasted good {Peet’s Sumatra), but little medicinal value.