Getting there is half the fun, no?
Um, yes and no. I guess it depends where you are going and how you get there! For us, the 15 hours of flying, broken with an Etihad Airlines stop-over in Abu Dhabi, was a mixed bag. The aircrafts were modern, featuring state of the art entertainment systems and really, really good food. The company we kept was … interesting.
Out of JFK I was lucky enough to be seated in front of a woman who thought if I raised the armrest between Osman’s and my seats, putting the seat controller buttons tantalizingly in front of her, it meant I wanted her to use them.
Not so much!
In fact I thought we were making a bee-line for the ocean floor the first time she decided that my seat needed to be bolt upright - as I lay unconscious in it at 3am! The hostess looked mortified as I flew upright and she managed a weak apology on behalf of Ms Inappropriate behind me.
From Abu Dhabi to Delhi I shared a 3 seat row with a pint sized, 150 year old Indian lady with no boundaries, no respect for airline safety procedure and no inkling that I didn’t understand her when she jabbered to me in her language. Once I had safely kicked her out of my seat (and no she didn’t care what her boarding card said) she spent the rest of the flight nudging me for favors.
I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom… as did 10 other people. The line was long but the bathroom conveniently located near my seat! After a 20 minute wait, I finished in the bathroom and headed back to my movie and book. Just after I had reseated myself, put back on the seatbelt, blanket, earbuds, opened my book and restarted the movie, I got a poke to the arm. She had a pointy, wrinkled finger in the air like she had had a brilliant thought…In fact I could almost see the light bulb going off over her head. She motions for me to go stand in the aisle so she can get out and use the bathroom! Osman and I burst out laughing.
But my favorite “old lady moments” were when she screwed with the flight attendants. They would come by and demonstrate again and again, how to do up the seat belt and to stow her (larger than her) handbag under the seat in front of her for landing. Then she would ask me to help her undo the seatbelt and up would come the handbag. I really believe that she thought she was immortal anyway, and given her apparent age, I might have to agree.
Um, yes and no. I guess it depends where you are going and how you get there! For us, the 15 hours of flying, broken with an Etihad Airlines stop-over in Abu Dhabi, was a mixed bag. The aircrafts were modern, featuring state of the art entertainment systems and really, really good food. The company we kept was … interesting.
Out of JFK I was lucky enough to be seated in front of a woman who thought if I raised the armrest between Osman’s and my seats, putting the seat controller buttons tantalizingly in front of her, it meant I wanted her to use them.
Not so much!
In fact I thought we were making a bee-line for the ocean floor the first time she decided that my seat needed to be bolt upright - as I lay unconscious in it at 3am! The hostess looked mortified as I flew upright and she managed a weak apology on behalf of Ms Inappropriate behind me.
From Abu Dhabi to Delhi I shared a 3 seat row with a pint sized, 150 year old Indian lady with no boundaries, no respect for airline safety procedure and no inkling that I didn’t understand her when she jabbered to me in her language. Once I had safely kicked her out of my seat (and no she didn’t care what her boarding card said) she spent the rest of the flight nudging me for favors.
I got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom… as did 10 other people. The line was long but the bathroom conveniently located near my seat! After a 20 minute wait, I finished in the bathroom and headed back to my movie and book. Just after I had reseated myself, put back on the seatbelt, blanket, earbuds, opened my book and restarted the movie, I got a poke to the arm. She had a pointy, wrinkled finger in the air like she had had a brilliant thought…In fact I could almost see the light bulb going off over her head. She motions for me to go stand in the aisle so she can get out and use the bathroom! Osman and I burst out laughing.
But my favorite “old lady moments” were when she screwed with the flight attendants. They would come by and demonstrate again and again, how to do up the seat belt and to stow her (larger than her) handbag under the seat in front of her for landing. Then she would ask me to help her undo the seatbelt and up would come the handbag. I really believe that she thought she was immortal anyway, and given her apparent age, I might have to agree.
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