Monday Progress Report: Flying First Class

Greetings from Amsterdam! I’m writing this from the KLM lounge after my first ever business class flight. To my dismay, there were no warm cookies served, but this was compensated by the serving of mixed nuts, crab salad, goat cheese stuffed ravioli, chocolate torte, brie and as if that weren’t enough, Apple French toast for breakfast. Did you hear me? Apple French Toast.

It was hands down the best airplane food I’ve ever eaten, but the best part about the flight was definitely the leg room.

And not only was it my first business class flight, but also my first ever double decker flight. And we got to be on the second floor! I definitely felt like a rock star. However, even in the expensive seats, the journey is an exhausting one. I managed about 2 hours of sleep before Jonathan woke me up for breakfast. Apple French Toast breakfast.

So obviously the fact that we're in Amsterdam shows that we made a lot of progress in the past week, the biggest milestone being receiving visa approval and scheduling our house hunting trip. Funny story…Jon’s company acted as our travel agents and were responsible for booking our flights and hotels for Aberdeen using Jon’s company credit card. They booked my ticket just fine, but when they tried to secure Jon’s seat on the plane they were told his credit card had been maxed out. For a while there, it looked like I’d be the only one going until they figured out a solution.

Jonathan decided that the quickest fix was to just charge it on our personal card and ask for reimbursement. It makes me quite uncomfortable to see that Business class ticket charge on our credit card statement. We’re definitely not in Economy anymore, and I’m very thankful that the company will be reimbursing us. We both feel quite guilty that this little trip is costing so much money, and would have gladly roughed it to save the company some cash.

However, part of the Ex-Pat package is that the company offers several perks to try to off balance all of the hardships. We’re pretty down to earth people, so the Executive treatment may take some getting used to. The Apple French Toast is helping to speed up the adjustment period though. 

 I’ve got about two hours in the lounge before boarding our Aberdeen flight and once there we will directly go house hunting. Here’s just a brief rundown of the past week’s accomplishments:

Logistics: We got our Visas and scheduled a house hunting trip. Our house is set to go on the market this Wednesday with an Open House this weekend.

Shipment: We set up a firmer move date, arranged for our belongings to be shipped and I ordered the dog’s airline approved kennels.

This week’s goals: 1) Find a House in Scotland 2) Sell our house in Houston. Your prayers on both of these matters are highly appreciated.

And just one more thing: Happy Birthday to my dear lifelong friend Simone who is such a smarty that she just passed the Louisiana BAR exam last weekend. We’ll be toasting a Scottish Ale in your honor tonight, Monie.

Now I’m faced with that all too common dilemma- power nap or caffeine binge? Any tips for handling jet lag?