A Very Long Day

June 21st. Longest day of the year. Nothing makes that feel more true than spending it in economy class on a transatlantic flight.   I'm tout seul, an hour and a half from Amsterdam. The in-flight entertainment system is reminiscent of the Pong machine my dad proudly brought home to us in the 70's.  Dear KLM, technology is advancing; you should look into it.  If you find yourself in this spot, wrestle with the outdated controller and navigate your way to the Anthony  Bourdain TV show on Amsterdam.  I always love Anthony, but the show is even better when you're on the cusp of arriving in the highlighted location.  It looks like they must send a scout crew or two into a city before he arrives. I imagine they make their recommendations and he goes from there. In this particular episode it's kind of apparent that he gets stuck with a couple of bad choices (he's hungover and eye-rolling for much of the episode) and so they insert footage of the places he wished he'd gone instead. Limited time with the talent on the ground I suppose. I decide to re-watch the episode so I can write down the good suggestions,  but now that I've insulted the in-flight technology the controller is completely not cooperating with me. Oh well. I do remember the show opens with the host talking about how the anticipation of a trip being just as wonderful at times as the journey.  Yep oui.  I've had so much fun surfing, booking, wandering around on google maps. Not that our journey's all planned out ( it's not) but I've kind of got about a two month head start on this adventure.   Here's hoping the real thing is even more wow-y than its virtual counterpart.