Newark

Yesterday afternoon Leigh and I drove to Toronto to stay overnight before my flight out of Pearson Int'l Airport. The hotel/motel was kind of crappy but we've stayed in worse (Knight's Inn of Pittsburgh still takes the cake of seedy places we've had to sleep). We watched TV, enjoyed having furniture to sit on for the first time in two weeks, and sulked a little bit about being apart and so far from one another for 3 weeks.

This morning we got up at 6am and fought traffic all the way to the airport and now I'm in Newark for my first of two layovers.

Now I get to relax and enjoy my 7 HOUR LAYOVER.

*ugh*

See, if I had this layover at JFK I could take my carryon bag and hop the AirTrain into Manhattan, or at least Queens, and do something fun. I could walk around, grab lunch (Halal, anyone?), maybe even visit a museum. That's how much time I have!

But no, I'm in Newark, NJ where all I can do is chill at the airport. I've decided to splurge and buy a 24 hour internet pass, of which I will probably use 5-7 hours, but it'll be well worth it since I no longer have a cell phone. I guess I could always window shop because this place is kind of huge and mall-like, or I could get a massage but that might be kind of weird in an airport with people walking by not to mention ridiculously overpriced. Unfortunately the book I started reading (Guns, Germs, and Steel) weighs about 2.5 lbs and had to be moved to my checked bags due to really weird and strict AirFrance baggage regulations so I'm bookless for the day.

Anyway, in 7 hours I'll be on my way to Paris and then I'll have one more short flight to Nice. I can't wait for Friday- orientation will be over and I can start to recover from jet lag in peace before starting the montage of paperwork that awaits me at my new job. On Friday I'm also planning to meet with the caretaker at the property where I will most likely be renting a studio for the next 7 months. If all goes as expected I will pay my first and last month's rent, receive keys and move my stuff in that very day!

OK, enough thinking of the next few days. For now my goal is to achieve a zen-like state of mind where I see this long ass layover as a blessing and not a huge inconvenience.