The yin and yang of flying

While I feel a lot more comfortable on a plane - flying is still not my favourite pastime. I wasn't too bothered about the relative short flight over to Dublin though. Fortunately, I hadn't checked the weather forecast...

Chatting away to my colleague, the flight went by really quickly - until the plane prepared for landing. That's when the turbulence started. We sat in one of the rows without a window and without being able to look outside, I was convinced we'd be just seconds away from touching down. Interestingly as well, I am always a lot more anxious about take off, than I am about landing. It's because I know the whole experience will be over soon. While when there is turbulence during take off, I still have the whole flight ahead of me with the potential for further turbulence.

After about 10 minutes of rollercoaster-like bumpiness, the pilot suddenly pulled the plane back up and the stewardess made the comforting announcement, that the pilots were currently too busy to communicate with us but that we shouldn't worry and everything was fine...

A few minutes later, the pilot told us that it was too windy for us to land and they would have to circle over Dublin for a little while until they'd be able to try again. Fortunately, we managed to come down after the second attempt. But sitting through nearly 30 minutes of constant turbulence was not a pleasant experience and made me feel physically sick. But as somebody said to me: at least you got down safely. Good point.

And as it turned out, we had been the lucky ones! A number of flights had been delayed or even cancelled, which unfortunately affected a number of our delegates.

And - as if to make up for it - the return flight was one of the smoothest flights I've ever been on. And the views were fantastic, too (I managed to get a window seat). With blue skies and flying beneath the clouds (or maybe there weren't any?), I had great views. I am assuming we flew in over Wales - I hadn't realized how many (little) mountains/hills there are.

Boston

I don't have any words for this.
Why do people do such horrific things to other people?

My thoughts go out to all those affected by the bombs.

Time is relative

And I wonder whether - if I really, really wish for it - the next 4 days will just go by in a flash.
Fingers crossed!

My favourite time of day

I love lying in (my) bed and I love to sleep. Getting up on the other hand, I don't like all that much.
On a weekend though - or any day that I can have a lie in - my favourite time of day are the couple of minutes just after waking up. You are in this state in between your dreamland and being fully awake. And just for this little time, you don't think of all the difficult things that might be going on in your life.
Until you are hit with reality again.

She Wolf

David Guetta feat. Sia

Meet the Drill Instructor

In January, when I was still very motivated to work on my fitness levels, I bought a Time Out voucher for six sessions at Fitness Fusions. And yes, it has taken me until now - April - to FINALLY use my voucher for my first session...

One of their studios (they have a number of venues) is just a short walk from my office, which is of course very convenient. You can book your class online and it seems that a lot of people book relatively far in advance and then cancel last minute. I picked the Yogapilates session, expecting a rather tranquil affair. Little did I know what I had let myself in for...

No time was wasted on any introductions, instead Cheryl started barking out instructions. Luckily, I had been to yoga classes before, otherwise, I think I would have been pretty lost. We speedily went through a number of yoga poses and I was out of breath quickly. When I looked at the clock and realized that only 10 minutes had passed, I was getting rather worried about how/whether I'd be able to keep going for another 50 minutes!

I'm pleased to say that I somehow did. Even though I wasn't able to do quite as many repetitions on a number of occasions, as Cheryl wanted us to... As is often the case, I did feel really good after the class! And the days after, I could feel my muscles in a few places.

I think I will be going back.

Flaws

Bastille