Burgers, Tubular Tacos and Airplane Reviews

I was sent back to the US for a two week work trip. The days of sitting in meetings and training sessions were long, but productive. The evenings were filled with team dinners, running errands, and visiting with friends and family. I even took a trip home to New Orleans over the weekend in between my work weeks.

My report from the airplane rides back to Austin will be brief. I was upgraded to business class for the British Airways flight from Vienna to London. Besides a little bit nicer meal, seafood linguini (which was decent enough), there wasn’t much distinction between the business class and economy class sections. If I’m going to get upgraded, I want it to be better. I want it to be awesome, like Emirates Air Business class, which I had the opportunity to fly from Vienna to Hong Kong after being stuck there during the volcanic eruption in Iceland. Otherwise, just leave me in economy, because I’d rather maintain the ideal image in my mind I have of business and first class.

It was a 767, so there were no individual TV’s. The movie on the cabin television was Where the Wild Things Are. I had already fallen asleep trying to watch it on a previous flight, so I didn’t even attempt it on this one. I am all for the magic of Hollywood, but occasionally, I wish they’d let us keep our imaginations to ourselves. For example, Cat in the Hat has now been ruined for me now that Mike Meyers in that creepy makeup haunts my dreams. Sure, they get it right every once in a while, but for every Lord of the Rings (which I’ve never seen, but heard is good), there are five Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’s (the Johnny Depp version). Create your own stories, Hollywood. Don’t mess with the treasures of our childhood.

For the first time in my life, I read a book from cover to cover in one sitting. A friend at work, Tomas, had recommended Life of Pi and then lent it to me. I literally had no clue what the book was about. I didn’t even know if it was fact or non-fiction. I really enjoyed it. I have a few nit-picky complaints, but overall, I thought it was great and would recommend it whether you’re on a 9 hour plane ride or not.

We were served pasta and pizza on the flight to Dallas. The pasta (I think it was ravioli, but I honestly can’t remember) was fine, and the pizza was much better cooked than the last time I flew. They must have ready my review and made some improvements. As a side note, I think they over feed passengers on flights. I understand they’re trying to keep everyone on schedule, but I always feel fairly ill when I arrive. In the future, maybe I shouldn’t eat everything they serve, but the flight attendants seem so damn convincing when they come by with their carts and those trays of temptation.

I filled up on Austin food. I hit Chuy’s twice, Hula Hut, Rudy’s, Mighty Fine, Taco Deli, and many others. It was great meeting up with friends and family. When visiting with friends with kids, it makes it seem like such a longer time we’ve been away as the children change so much in just months. Part of me wants to think that life stands still while we’re away, but that isn’t the case. Lives end and also begin. We’ve come to terms with this and knew and know it’s something we’d have to be okay with if we were going to be away for a period of time.

The biggest reality of being home for two weeks is that I still love Austin. I always have and I always will. I’ve seen so many different places in the world, and there really aren’t many places better than Austin, Texas. Maybe everyone says this about their home towns, but believe me, you’re kidding yourselves. I really do feel in my heart I’m being objective. I’m conflicted because I hate when all these publications list Austin as one of the top places to live because I don’t want more people to move there and ruin it with further overpopulation. At the same time though, I want everyone to recognize how great it is. I look forward to finding my way back eventually.

The flight home was different in that my parents were on my flight. We met up in Dallas. They were on their way to visit us for 10 days. We were to fly into Budapest where Jenn would meet us and we would spend the weekend.

Betty and Harry made a smart decision and ate in the DFW airport during their layover. I did not have much of a layover, so I bought a few snacks and waited until the flight meal for my dinner. The chicken and rice was pretty gross. I ate a few bites, gave up, and then ate the surprisingly good caramel chocolate brownie on my tray. My mom also brought chocolate doberge squares from Maurice’s Bakery in Metairie. So, I ate the one out of three she brought that didn’t get smushed in the box. It hit the spot.

The flight movie was Letters to Juliet with Amanda Seyfreid. Maybe she’s charming or whatever, but if you’ve ever seen her on late night talk shows, you’d realize was a complete dolt she is. I read a little of my book, Traders, Guns, and Money (which is about derivatives traders on Wall Street and is unfortunately just as boring as it sounds), did some work, and slept much more than I usually do on a plane. It’s been an exhausting two weeks.