Saturday, August 7, 2010

Part Two - Leaving on a Jet Plane..





Outside of my excitement at seeing the departure board in the International Concourse at San Francisco say Seoul Incheon, I'd have to say it was a trip like most others...you know, the ones that last 12 hours and take you from one day to another, which is somewhat disconcerting and not much different than flying domestically these days. 


However, I was flying business class to Korea.
It was all good.


A Quick Word or Few about Business Class: 
If you have never flown on the new planes with beds, I will make this comment in passing: Diet in advance. As Americans, we generally lean to the side of "pleasingly plump." That doesn't work well in these coffin-like recliners, unless you always sleep on your back. I did find that the only comfortable way for me was to place my arms across my chest, cover myself with a blanket, put on my husband's Bose headsets and drift off to Lala Land following an excellent dinner (not joking here). After sleeping about two hours, I found that moving from this restricted position was somewhat of a challenge. Pushing buttons to get the seat to incline enough for me to get to my feet was like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in slightly slow motion. It's a good thing I wasn't desperate. 
Once vertical, I looked around at the snorking, snoring, wheezing and mostly sleeping passengers. It was all I could do to keep from laughing out loud. While some had managed to find a modicum of comfort on their sides or (I still can't believe this one) face down, most were on their backs, eye shades in place, blankets tucked under chins - or over heads. It looked like a bizarre morgue scene from a Robert Altman comedy. I wanted to walk the aisles placing lilies in everyone's hands.
Momentarily unrestrained, I refreshed myself, watched some great shows on Discovery Channel about treasure hunting and lightening chasers, and then settled back into my coffin - like Dracula - for a few more hours sleep as the sun began to penetrate the pull down shades of the cabin windows. Looking at my watch again, it was now 8AM in Seoul. 


Just another 7 hours to go..



3 comments:

  1. That's pretty neat, Allison! I would think that the cabin full of people sleeping in little compartments would be a strange sight. Sort of like kindergarten nap time for business travelers!

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  2. Hopefully without the bed wetting, but I can't say for sure..

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  3. THAT IS AMAZING.

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