It's 4:35 A.M And I Can't Sleep From The MLM Jet Lag! by David Ledoux
It's a bizarre feeling. I've seen 4:30 on the clock. I know farmers and shift
workers regularly get up around this time. I'm more of a
"crack-of-noon" kind of guy. But I'm wide-awake....
I got home last yesterday from Australia. Man, I love that country! The
weather is gorgeous, the scenery beautiful, and the people are incredibly
friendly. But it is an awfully long flight. From Toronto it's about 6 hours to
L.A with airport waiting, a 2-3 hour layover, and another 14 hours to Melbourne.
All told you can bank on 24 consecutive hours of sitting in a seat and eating
airplane food.
You'll definitely want a window seat.... being trapped in a middle seat is
HORROR!
Guess what seat I got on this last flight?
You should have seen my face when I got to L.A. and I drew 38-B.... B as in
BRUTAL!
Getting a seat change is a delicate maneuver...growling and being aggressive
nearly never works. I'm an Elite Member with Air Canada, but on this flight I
was with Quantas and they don't honor my pin rank....
I sauntered up to the counter just after the Auckland flight left. The guy
behind the computer eyeballed me. I smiled, made some pleasant talk, and pled my
case. He said it was a full flight. Strike one...
A young lady attendant took over the computer 10 minutes later. I still had
2:45 to wait until my connector to Melbourne. The waiting area was nearly
deserted. I went through my pre-begging ritual. Smile...check. Non-threatening
demeanor...check. Pleasant hello.... check
I was met with spastic coughing.
Poor little thing...she had a cold.
I reached into my carry-on and pulled out.... a bag of liquid-filled Halls
candies...the world's BEST throat lozenge!
"Halls?" I asked as I took one and put it in my mouth. She smiled
weakly, reached into the bag and took one. "Any chance we can move this B
to an A?"
Click, click, click.... click. "No problem. Last one."
"Thanks. Take care of that cough."
I landed in Melbourne 17 hours later on Anzac Day. Exactly a year to the day
of my last trip to Australia.
Just before I left my good buddy said, "Gee, you sure travel a
lot."
It got me thinking. It didn't seem like a lot. Then I made a list of
everywhere I had been in the previous 364 days.
April 03 - Shreveport, Louisiana
April 03 - Hawaii & Australia
May 03 - UK, Germany, Austria, and Spain
October 03 - Houston, Texas
November 03 - Hong Kong & Manilla, Philippines
December 03 - UK, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Hungary,
Slovenia, Sweden, Finland, Denmark
January 04 - Las Vegas
February 04 - Las Vegas
March 04 - Atlantic City, New Jersey
March 04 - Shreveport, Louisiana
April 04 - Australia
I remembered the words of an old upline of mine. "A life worth living is
a life worth recording."
Thankfully I had a digital camera on most of those trips. I use a free
resource called Picture Trail to create online photos albums that I can share
with my friends around the world. Mine is set up at MLM
Photo Album
Life moves pretty fast. I hope you're keeping a visual record of it....
I appreciate you!
David Ledoux
