BuSiNeSs TiMe

It may not have been Wednesday night, but I took the business socks...and the face wash... and the toothpaste kit. The week leading up to my European adventure was packed with everything but sleep. I had a 15 page paper to research/write in a weekend, an econ final, a magazine to edit and proof, Christmas shopping to do... not to mention I cant remember the last time I'd gone through my money (kind of necessary before a long trip), done laundry or cleaned my room.

Thursday night MK kept chastising me that I needed to sleep or I'd end up making stupid decisions while I travel. I brushed it off with, "there will be plenty of time to sleep on the plane." Well, after 3 hours sleep I woke up at 6am for my flight up to JFK. Not even 10 minutes into my travels his prediction came true! We'd arrived at the airport late and in my rush to get to my gate (that was already boarding) I took the wrong tram, thus went to the wrong terminal. I freaked out, ran and barely made it to my gate. I.E. JFK was no longer even on the departure board, luckily I remembered where my gate was. eeek.

However, I soon settled in, arrived into JFK and plunked down for five hours to go over emails, do research on my vacation and finally RELAX. It may seem painful to most to sit in an airport that long, but to be honest it was the most relaxed I'd been in at least two months. At 2 pm I headed over to Terminal 1 to meet up with my friends Rob and Brett to check in for our Paris-bound flight. Since Rob works for Air France, each of us were crossing our fingers we'd get upgraded to business class. Rob had been checking the loads (and updating us via text) every day and the prospects looked good. That is, until bad weather had cancelled the flight from the night before.

Both our 7pm and the earlier 4:30 flights were oversold so they put us in the exit row of economy plus on the 4:30. We walked away a bit dejected but excited to be going nonetheless. We were eating some lunch/dinner while we waited for our flight (I hadn't eaten all day) when Rob got a texted to come back to the office. He comes back, asks for my ticket and hands me a new one... for BUSINESS class! I don't really understand how they can be oversold one minute then have three empty seats a few minutes later, but I wasn't going to complain--I was so excited!

We made our way to the gate, boarded and let the swanky treatment begin. With a bit of swapping Rob and I were in the front middle seats and Brett was across the isle on my right. I could not contain my excitement about having a chair that turned into a bed. I have been on so many flights when I feel myself turning into a fussy two-year-old because I'm so tired but can't sleep. In those moments I contemplate how amazing it would be to just lay on the floor in the isle and sleep. Now... I could lay flat and sleep in my own chair! I kept adjusting it just because I could (It is also fun to adjust the seat of the person next to you, but I'd only recommend it if you are friends with them.) After noshing on some smoked salmon and waiting for our fillet minion, we dug around our seats to see what was in the night kit: some ear plugs, a mask, a comb, toothpaste and some socks (insert us quoting the FOC song here.) After going to the restroom I excitedly told Rob they had Clarins facewash, toner and lotions for us to use. Yeah, he went in to use them just because he could.

The rest of the flight went by way to quickly (only 6 hours from JFK to Paris). We watched Bad Teacher, enjoyed french desserts, pastries, cheeses, jams... and almost some champagne--oops. I slept for a few glorious hours and woke up in time for a quick fresh breakfast and we landed. From there, we parted ways until Berlin as they continued on to London and I boarded a train to Brussels. Well, not right away. I didn't get on the early train so I found a warm corner of the airport and slept for two hours...I'm sure I looked homeless. BUT I'm not, I'm a classy business person! Air France even says so.

Suave businessmen Brett and Rob