Kyle’s European Adventure

I’ve made it safely to Europe, and I can easily say that the trip over here was the most wonderful and eventful flight I’ve ever taken. My friend Carsten was working on our flight, and he and the rest of the crew bent over backwards to make everything perfect for us.

Things really got off to a good start when the desk agent paged my parents to come to the gate. They both got upgraded to Business Class – something my mom had never experienced. My brother, sister and brother-in-law all got exit row seats, and the crew knew us by name and completely spoiled us.

Not long after we took off, Carsten stopped by my seat and asked “Would any of your family be interested in seeing the cockpit?” There was no way he could have known just how fascinated with aircrafts my father is. I grabbed him by his vest and said “You HAVE to get up to business class and tell my dad not to take his ambien! If anyone is going up there, it’s HIM!”

Fast forward to my father and I sitting in the jump seats in the cockpit of the brand new A330-300, being given an enthusiastic overview of all of it’s systems. I can not think of a time I’ve seen my father more excited and impressed. The hilight came when ground control radioed to tell the pilots to move up to 40,000 feet. The pilot looked at me and said, “You want to do it?”

*gasp*

He told me which knob to turn, and once the new altitude was set, I pulled the lever to execute the command in the autopilot. Feeling the jet respond and start to climb was such a thrill. The entire experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and by the time we landed, my parents had decided to adopt Carsten.

Now we’re in Munich, where we spent the day touring around a bit. We’re all incredibly jet-lagged, so I hope to get to bed early and be in better touring shape tomorrow. We leave bright and early for Füssen – home of Mad King Ludwig’s castles, where we’ll be for 3 days.