Time for a drink

Traveling has always been a trigger for me in terms of drinking alcohol.  It’s holiday time, time to celebrate some much needed R&R and what better way to celebrate than with a drink.  Flight early morning? That doesn’t matter, you’re going on holiday, a holiday which you deserve to celebrate.  In the past I would have looked forward to my glass of symbolic bubbles at the airport, but now I have very mixed feelings about it. Part of me would love nothing more than to toast the start of our trip and to feel that warm fuzziness and rosy glow that alcohol produces. The other half thinks about how one glass of fizz was never enough, the inevitable hangover half way through your flight and the sluggish feeling that you get afterwards, taking away from the natural buzz of actually going away on holiday...shouldn’t this be enough to ‘get you in the celebratory holiday mood.’

We started our day at the airport with breakfast at Jamie Oliver’s Diner, treating ourselves to coffee, orange juice and a big breakfast.The lady serving us was lovely and bubbly and full of banter…I do not want to take that away from her with this post. One of the things that I am very aware of nowadays is how much people push alcohol to you at every opportunity. In the past I would not have noticed this...probably because I was drinking alcohol and open to being pushed. “It’s 8 in the morning, but I just want to check if you’d like to UP your game, by ordering a Mimosa?” When we kindly declined, she didn’t stop there, next came the “I hear it’s REALLY good for curing the Corona Virus”. It’s 8am in the morning, usually I wouldn’t have said anything and I really do not want to be ‘one of those preachy people’, but I felt like the only way to get her to stop was to drop the S bomb. ‘We are sober’ I announced proudly. Only then did she reflect on what she had said. If I wasn’t so set on my intention to stay sober and had gone past the point of return to drinking, then I would have had no chance with this kind of encouragement. It made me think that people should be a little bit more mindful before being quite so pushy. Jamie is on a mission to promote healthy eating, so should this culture of pushing booze, at this time of the morning be encouraged?

Next challenge was on our BA flight.  Our welcome drink comes around, the choice of sparkling wine or water. We hear the lady serving say over and over again, ‘silly question really’. She looked at us like we had 3 heads when we both went for a water. I ask one of the ladies if they have any alcohol free alternatives, unless you are looking for a mix of apple and orange juice, which they have labeled as a ‘mocktail’, then you are not in luck.  When you have paid for an upgrade you’d think that this would be an option, especially as there are so many issues with people drinking too much on flights and causing issues through drunk and disorderly behavior.  Maybe if they gave people more interesting, responsible, mindful drinking alternatives they wouldn’t have so many problems? Just a thought.

There is also a mindset of ‘I’ve paid for it, so I wont be getting my monies worth if I don’t drink alcohol’.  I told a few people that Steve had kindly upgraded our tickets as a birthday treat...I had a few people ask me what the point was if not drinking alcohol. Well, there’s the extra leg room, better food, furnishings, nicer cutlery and snugglier blanket... the alcohol isn’t the only reason, but it is often made the main reason.

Steve and I are off to Costa Rica for two weeks for some much needed (and deserved) R&R - looking forward to some sunshine, sea swimming, yoga and meditation practice, reading, being creative, volcano climbing, zip wiring through rainforest and the opportunity to hang out with sloths, turtles, howler monkeys and other creatures!

An opportunity to beach more, worry less!

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