the journey

The flight, despite the usual terror I experience during taxi and takeoff, was fine. Smooth, and no turbulence for the entire 7 hours 45 minutes. The in-flight move was "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", and was surprisingly good (apart from too many manly roars). Also, I got around the $5 "entertainment fee" by plugging my own headphones into the armrest as opposed to the airline's, which seemed to be the only benefit of paying aforementioned "fee".

Lunch was served at 2ish (UK time), much to my delight. Some people think it plain, but I always enjoy plane food: the little pots, the rich flavours etc. Today I enjoyed chicken and mash with veg. There was also a "salad" (an American one; coated in grease and with nothing green in it), a ciabatta, and a nice chocolate slab for pud. I inadvertently made the salad even more unhealthy by dousing it in butter (it had melted to a liquid state, a fact I failed to realise until it was all over the salad). After applying the remainder of the butter to the ciabatta, I tucked in, and it was delicious. I also had a can of Diet Coke, which was 355ml as opposed to the standard 330ml in Britain. An increase in size of about 7%! (I later found out that 355ml is 12oz, so I assume the difference in size is just to make it a round number of ounces).

After customs (surprisingly smooth despite being grilled for filling out a government form in pencil) and baggage claim and whatnot in Philadelphia, I managed to find the only seat in the departure lounge from where no clocks were visible. I had a nap on the plane, as well as a turkey and cheese sandwich, a bag of pretzels and another coke, so I was feeling refreshed. I had a look around, and was lucky/unlucky enough (you decide) to see a range of American stereotypes quite early on in my trip: I saw the fat black lady with the attitude, the patriotic white guy with the crewcut, Uncle Phil, and the shriveled old bint you'd expect to see at any information desk (the one who it is a crime to ask for information). If any of you have played Thief 2, I also had a flight attendant who sounded just like Karras.

I also discovered, to my glee, that Philadelphia's mayor is called Michael Nutter. And based on his picture (below), his surname also acts as an adjective.

Since arriving in Philadelphia, it occurred to me that my knowledge of US geography is atrocious. I found out where it was, and vowed to brush up on the layout of America at some point. But anyway. I went on a wander around departures, and to my shock it took me a good half hour to find a McDonalds. I believe that everyone should try an American McDonalds at some point, just to compare it to one in the UK (a disturbing realisation: since last time I was in America, the two have become a lot more similar). I changed up some $CAD into $US and bought a cheeseburger (after stowing a lucky dollar in my wallet (well why not?!)). Then I purchased a bottle of "Orange Soda", wanting to see what the fuss was about, and forgot about the tax. I had to spend my previously stowed lucky dollar.

Luckily the cashier was charming; she must have detected my reluctance to fork it over as she gave me a dollar from her tip jar and wished me luck on the rest of my journey. Dawwww.

The rest of the flight was fine. I arrived in Toronto Airport ahead of schedule, went through immigration and customs without delay, and met Stephen Silverheart, my pickup. He dropped me at the block in Bathurst Street that'll be home for the next 3.5 months, and went on his way.

I'll write again soon, gonna go explore now!