Haircut, Haagen Daz and Hungary

Ray Schmidt, Operations Director and Vice President

This morning before leaving for the San Francisco airport, I had my hair cut by a local barber. Later that afternoon (plus a travel day) I was eating my favorite Haagen Daz ice cream at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam--Forest Berry Cream. By evening I was sitting in my hotel room in Budapest, Hungary checking emails.

It's just amazing to me that I can wake up in Ripon, California one morning and fall asleep in Budapest, Hungary later that evening. I know, I lose a day in there because I'm flying east, but you get the idea.

I am going to have to work on my aisle seat scowl because it failed me today. I always prefer the aisle seat on a plane so I don't have to wake anybody up in order to stand up and walk a little. If I do have a window seat I always follow proper airline seat decorum. I will wait until my neighbors have to get up and then I too will get out of my seat so that I won't disturb them later. And under no circumstances would I wake a sleeping neighbor. And I would never think of excusing myself if my neighbors were eating.

But today, my row mates were either inexperienced travelers (although they were 70+) or they had not been taught proper seat etiquette. As soon as the flight left San Francisco, I fell asleep, which I understand is quite a gift. However, less than hour into the flight, I am dreaming that the Middle Seat Man, is walking over the top of me. It startled me and then I nearly knocked the man over as I sat up and realized that he actually stood up on his seat, stepped over me and put his slipper-clad feet (that's another story) on my arm rest, which is what awakened me, and then jumped to the floor. He gave me a sheepish smile and pardoned himself in German and I gave him the look I give my kids when they do something that is inappropriate--a combination scowl and look of utter disbelief.

It didn't stop there. He returns and I fall asleep and 30 minutes later, someone is tapping me on the shoulder. This time Window Seat Woman (wife of Middle Seat Man), needs to get out. I am polite and stand up to let her out. Now, this is no exaggeration, I sit back down with Middle Seat Man and two minutes later he wants out, so I stand up again. I am now in full-scowl mode, but he never sees it because he doesn't look back at me. A few minutes later I see the two of them returning and I stand up and allow them to get in, but only Window Seat Woman wants to get in. Her husband wants to walk the aisle for awhile. So I sit back down and a few minutes later Middle Seat Man taps me on the shoulder and wants back in.

I ended up standing up and allowing one or both of them to pass four more times during the flight, including once during a meal. I know they noticed my scowl on at least two of those occasions, but I think they enjoyed toying with me. I'm pretty confident that I caught a gleam passing between their eyes once. I think they were actually seasoned travelers who enjoyed playing this game with their row mates.

So I did not get my usual 6 hours of plane sleep but I did make it to Budapest. Tomorrow morning (Saturday) I'll meet a medical team from Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital at the Budapest airport and then we'll drive three hours south to Pecs, where we will be installing a patient monitoring system at Pecs Pediatric Hospital. We will also be training the hospital staff how to use and maintain the equipment.

God bless,

Ray Schmidt