Backed Up

So I planned to post the Budapest and Slovakia pictures today, but then I stumbled upon a backlog of pics that needed taking care of. Budapest and Slovakia will have to wait until tomorrow. For now, enjoy pics from my trip to Barcelona with Ben, Sam, Sarah, Rachel, and Taylor (only three months late, it's all goooood) and some pics from Ben's and my jaunt on May 3, up to a couple of towns along the Rhine River, Bacharach and Sankt Goar (pics taken by Ben but on my camera so I did the honors). Because of the sheer numbers, I only put two or three captions in each batch, so the pics will have to speak for themselves. I always forget what stuff actually is anyway, so you'd only end up with more of my insane ramblings.

Speaking of insane ramblings, I have to mention a little incident from my flight home yesterday, before I forget that too. Even though RyanAir flies to and from the tiniest, most out-of-the-way little airports in Europe, I've come to enjoy their flights for a couple of reasons. Due to the hop, skip, and a jump nature, they're always pretty short, and the two Exit rows have a ton of legroom. Despite the free-for-all atmosphere of waiting in line to board and then choosing whatever seats you want, there's always at least one spot left in these rows by the time I get there.

Normally I go directly for an aisle seat on the left on any public transportation, because at least I can periodically stretch my bum right leg out -- also, you're guaranteed one uncontested armrest with an aisle seat, which is worth the occasional thwacking from a drink cart. But in the Exit row I don't even need the aisle because I can stretch both legs out anywhere. I don't know why people haven't caught on to this, but I hope they never do, because these seats are pure gold for a guy my size. As an added bonus, kids aren't allowed to sit in them, so you're guaranteed not to have to deal with any little brats.

You might, however, have to deal with some big brats. An Exit row seat doesn't have the tray table that folds down from the back of the seat in front of it. Instead, the rubber part of the armrest flips open to the left and you pull the tray table out of its little hidey hole. Ain't technology grand?

Well picture my situation: I'm in the middle of three seats, the seat to my left is empty for unknown technical reasons, and there's a German guy sitting in the window seat to my right. Not too bad, at least I've still got one free armrest on my left and he's got one on his right.

I'm ready to exercise the unspoken diplomacy of adjacent seats, trading off control of the middle armrest throughout the flight, when things take a turn for the weird. He's erected the Berlin Wall of Exit row seats: he's flipped up the rubber part of the armrest!

Because the rubber part flips up to the left, he's still able to put his arm on the inner workings while effectively shutting down any access I might have had. For the security of an entire-flight stranglehold on the armrest, this diabolical fiend was willing to sacrifice the shared comfort of the flat, rubber surface.

Well played, stranger. I'm already looking forward to trying it out myself.