Stacy: Day 1 - A cold unlike any other...
We're crazy. It's just that simple. I mean, Nando doesn't have a choice about this travel because it's for work, but we're both still crazy.
Why?
Because we're in Stockholm, Sweden, during the coldest month of the year (February for them). This South Texas gal is always cold, still we'll see how we do with highs at 27 degrees Fahrenheit,.. and the sun seeing around 4:30pm, and snow being forecasted every day this week. Oh, also, this is my third international trip in 5 months; with only 10 weeks in between Sweden and Japan.
Speaking of Japan, I haven't even finished my blogs for that trip! I'm so sorry! I was only a few days backlogged, but first Nando became sick in Tokyo, and then I followed suit, becoming sick last few days in Tokyo. It snowballed from there: surviving the flight home, healing up from three weeks of the most bizarre sinus illness I've ever had, and then Christmas with my sister, Kim, and her family, and guests staying with us every other week in January.
And, then, THREE weeks to plan this trip to Sweden, researching and purchasing cold-weather items, planning where to eat gluten free, what I'm interested in seeing vs what Nando wanted to see. How did we do? Stay tuned for the coming days of wintery exploration!
Today, however, was a travel day.
Started off quite nicely, as our flight to Houston left at 4pm. Just regular, uneventful air travel! We made all of our connecting flights without delays.
Night photos of North American cities. The brightest is likely Boston, MA, and the I believe the darker one is Brunswick. Whether that's in the Northern US, or Canada, I don't remember.
Looking out at the lights twinkling below me, I remember contentedly thinking, "it's nice to finally have an international flight out that didn't have some thing happen..."
And, then.
About 30 minutes after they turned out the lights, somewhere over the deep Atlantic, flight attendants interrupted with, "We have a medical emergency. It's there a doctor on board? Please come to Economy Cabin." I hadn't noticed a lot of activity around me, and really, there wasn't.
My face fell, and my chest tightened. I paused my third movie of the flight, and started praying. Hard.
I saw, in the section of seats ahead of us (separated by the bathrooms), a call, but very stressed man, and then a blonde woman (likely his wife/traveling companions) standing much farther away (out of the way), near the toilets and emergency exit. She want stressed, exactly, but obviously felt helpless because she didn't know how to help (or, she knew there was nothing she could do).
The lights turned on. The cabin woke up a little bit.
The request for a doctor was repeated only once, more insistently; louder.
A flight attendant calmly, with purpose, walked from the incident to the rear, and returned with an oxygen tank and mask.
I couldn't see what was happening, directly. I didn't smell anything.
I kept praying.
The man, zoned out and in shock, opened the overhead compartment a couple of times, and rummaged around. For what, I have no idea. At one point, he did move a toddlers water bottle--the very distinct ones that have the protective cap with a straw that retracts/extends when the cap is moved.
After some time, the blonde woman, who occasionally moved back to the man's side, walked towards the toilets holding a large clear bag that had one of those mouths on it that made it easy to vomit into. It looked heavy, but the contents were below my line of sight. She waited for a bathroom to become available, and when she exited, she no longer had it.
Several people walked around (like normal), stretching their legs and going to the toilets, while being moderately nosey.
The flight attendant eventually walked back to the rear with the oxygen tank and mask.
Things seemed to calm down.
Nando was asleep the whole time.
The lights turned off.
The rest of the flight was uneventful, until disembarking, when, it was obvious, most people had slept through the medical emergency because about 25% of the people in economy ignored the flight attendant's vague request to remain seated for a few moments after we docked.
They had to quickly request it, again, reminding of the previous medical emergency. Medical professionals came on board to remove the person and check them over.
Here's the kicker: I WASN'T PAYING ATTENTION when they actually came on board, nor when we walked past them after exciting the craft (inside the building). I even glanced at the medical personnel, and locked eyes with a blonde woman. But, was focused on our next steps, so don't even remember if it was the same blonde woman, and didn't notice the patient.
Way to go, Stacy! Keeping them mystery arrive!
The interesting thing is that Nando and I were originally supposed to sit in that general area--the center row, right in front of the crew toilets. Only 4 rows behind the incident.
But, I wanted a window seat just this once so I could look for Northern Lights. Couldn't find 2 seats together on the left side, so the right side is what we chose as we were checking in. Being this far away from it was a blessing because I'm highly empathic. The stress of being so close, and not being able to do anything would have upped my anxiety tenfold! This way, I was able to sit back, and just pray for the situation (and not stress over it).
Obviously, it wasn't life threatening, or else we probably would have been diverted to Iceland, or somewhere in the UK. It happened right at the top of Greenland, where the plane's path clearly (unrelatedly) pivots. I felt the plane turn slightly, and wondered if we were being diverted. But, no announcement was made.
Besides the medical emergency, everything was normal. We landed in Frankfurt, got to our next gate, and had a sleepy 2 hours flight to Sweden. One of these photos from on the approach to Frankfort (I cannot tell which on my phone, so included them all) has windmills peeking through the clouds!
On the flight to Sweden, I never lost consciousness because the young Asian man next to me literally shifted his coat (by fluffing and folding it over his arm) every 10 minutes, or grabbing his gum and chewing loudly, or eating his purchased-on-board meal (not complimentary) with an open mouth. Oh, and did I mention shifting his coat?
Shouganai. ((Japanese saying, "it can't be helped."))
We're now in Sweden! And, I'm writing this after having sheriff only a handful of hours. I kept waking up, so decided to check for Northern Lights (cloudy), and write this before trying to get back to sleep. I do feel well rested--it's just not much sleep after being awake for over 26-ish hours.
Had dinner in the hotel, where the cheapest thing in the menu was a $26 hamburger that could have a gluten bun. We both had that.
Apparently, a burger "medium" in Sweden is still mooing. Lol. It was yummy, though. Being so tired, I only ate half of it. Into the mini-fridge my leftovers go!
