To Ghana - traveling tales;
Again, a flight across the ocean to Europe, and then south to Africa. Each time it is the same. Each time it is different. Winnipeg to Toronto in the evening; then Toronto to Europe overnight. It's a short night since we're flying against the sun, so to Amsterdam that's a seven hour time difference meaning when we landed at 11:30 in the morning, that was 4:30 am in Winnipeg.
I don't eat meals at night on planes (I don't eat at midnight at home, why would I do it in the air when I'm already messing with my sleep patterns?), and I sleep as much as I can, this time assisted by Zopiclone, a four hour sleeping pill. It worked very well - woke up at about 10:30 Amsterdam time having had a solid 4 hours sleep. With a chance to nap on the next flight, I can work with that.
Then on another plane south to Ghana. The strategy for this leg is to stay occupied with reading and watching movies, and to take a nap when I can't concentrate. Watched 'Gangs of New York' - excellent action-genre film that covered a variety of themes, perhaps too many for one film. There weren't many Gandhian moments in the film, and the few that did exist got punished - often by death.
It's the reading that was really different this time. Men's magazines.....no, not those kind! 'Men's Fitness' and 'Men's Health' - I'd always assumed these titles were for 'other men' - fitness nuts and hunters, I was wrong. There was an excellent article on staying fit 'as an older man' by the now-retired Arnold Schwarzenegger, and a host of other articles relevant to my interest in being mobile as long as practically possible. And the 'Discover' magazine (more typical of my flight reading choices) was all about aging and what science is doing to deal with the negative sides of aging.
I was very encouraged by what I read - and thinking that I need to start carving out a part of most days for a variety of exercise routines. Balance, Flexibility, Strength, Joint Health .... nothing extreme, it's just that holding decrepitude at bay takes time and thought and commitment - and doing.
So, other than a slight change in reading fare, a normal trip...though I'm thinking of going hunting this year ....
David
