Friday, August 16th, 2013, started off like most of the Friday's since I started working. 12 hours worth of work crammed into 8 hours, if nothing went wrong. My Karma was good, I left work on time with all tasks completed. Vacation started at 14:30 Arizona Standard Time (regardless of its official designation).

We made it to Sky Harbor in plenty of time to make it through security. Unfortunately, our flight was leaving from terminal 4's B gates, the side with the least palatable food. I opted for a milkshake from Mickey D's, as anything else would be more likely to be problematic on a 10 hour flight.

We ended up boarding the plane about the scheduled time for its departure, as there was a slight delay. We took off about 30 minutes behind schedule, which was to be expected. The British Airways 747 was a full flight which generally means if you are not flying in first or business class, pray for people that actually fit in one seat are next to you, that was almost the case, with not having access to my left armrest the only inconvenience I faced. Due to the guy sitting in the aisle seat sleeping with a blindfold, my wife used the ends of the armrests as a place upon which she could step in order to get to the restroom. That is not an option for me. Read more