Three Vaccinations and Malaria Pills Still Can't Prevent The Common Cold.

It's been a week since the end of spring break and I still haven't shaken this sneeze/cough/phlem thing I picked up on the last plane ride. You see, while Ethiopian Airlines, "The New Spirit of Africa," offers spacious seating, (when they don't fill the plane and I have a whole row to myself) luxurious accommodations (when your connecting flight is delayed by 15 hours) and an authentic ethnic atmosphere (a greeter dressed in a traditional Ethiopian dress/shawl thingy, second from left) they somehow haven't figured out how properly to seal an emergency exit, and so I sat for six hours in a draft, after forgetting my sweatshirt in my checked baggage. I had lots of legroom, though. And, as the flight was continuing past Rome further into Europe, no one came around to collect my blanket at the end of the ride, and Ethiopian Airlines will be keeping me warm for a long time.