Thoughts from the plane 1

It has been a super smooth journey so far. My Uber picked me up at 8:30am snd drove me 45 minutes north to my family's house in Smyrna, DE. From there, my brother drove me to Newark International Airport. We made great time, and arrived just after noon. 

I checked my bag without incident - hooray! Last year, my checked bag was somewhere between 3-8 pounds overweight. I ended up dumping some gifts and "necessities" in the trash to make weight. This year, I was determined not to be surprised at bag check. Once I packed that big bag, I took it to our local mailbox and shipping store, Milton Mailboxes. They weighed my bag for me so I could be sure it was under 50lbs. It weighed 49.4 pounds. Whew! I lightened my load a little bit more in case there were differences in the scales. Im not going to lie, I still breathed a sigh of relief when they took my bag. 😅

I made it through bag check and security in less than an hour. That gave me the entire afternoon at the airport. I purchased a day pass for the United lounge, so I hung out there. What a great experience! This was my first time lounging it, and it won't be my last. I ate, worked, drank lattes, and fancy aqua frescas. It made for a very pleasant afternoon. 

Now I'm on my way to Munich. Yesterday, I got an email from Lufthansa, informing me of an airport strike in Munich starting on March 6th. That's when I'm in Munich. Then I got an email from United with the same information and an invitation to change my flight in the United app. I went to the app and explored my options. The least expensive options were the ones I went for, and they were no longer available. Doh! I said yes to my original flight and the possibility of spending a couple of days in Munich. Thank goodness I did, and didn’t give in to the temptation to panic buy a more expensive ticket. When I re-read the email from Lufthansa, I noticed the strike isn't scheduled to begin until 20:00. My flight is at 11:50. I'm confident I'll be fine. Maybe my flight will be more crowded, but I expect it to happen. And if not, some time in Munich on the airline's dime isn't a bad deal. I've got time. 

My flight to Munich is pretty full, but not completely. I'm in the middle three seats on one of the aisles. The guy that was in the middle seat moved to an aisle seat, so now I've got some extra space. Sweet! I'm going to cue up Wonka - it's been on my list to see. And then rest and ujjayi. Maybe I'll even get some sleep!