My longest flights were from the eastern U.S. to my last posting, Sri Lanka. Usually leaving from Dulles; about a five hour layover either in London, Frankfurt, or Abu Dhabi, then all the way to Sri Lanka, which is off the southeast coast of India. Total time elapsed was about 27 hours; about 22-23 of that in the air.
Since the flights were over 14 hours, the USG paid for the upgrade to business, which is majorly sweet on long haul flights; and thanks to the fact that they do citypairs now, sometimes we got to fly other than US flag carriers. I particularly like Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines. The upgrade to business means:
- The food is edible, varied and sometimes even good.
2)They keep pushing juice and water on you, and even hand out fullsize water bottles.
- You get a "convenience kit"with razor, aftershave, toothbrush and paste, free socks, an eyemask and earplugs.
4)The seats allow something approximating actual sleep, and since they can be adjusted, less risk of deep vein thrombosis.
- Business class tickets allow access to the business class lounge, with showers, internet access points, free drinks and snacks; and usually mean your luggage is the first one off the plane.
Honestly, flying business class is one of the best ways to make a long flight pass faster. I’d usually eat, watch some movies and then sack out for the majority of the flight.
Veteran of several LAX-Christchurch, Sydney-LAX trips here. I’ve tried several strategies, but by far, the trip that passed the quickest was really a matter of being in the right place at the right time. On one flight, I happened to be seated next to a seasoned traveler who had lots of truly interesting stories to tell. He wasn’t full of himself, (there wasn’t any of the “no shit, there I was” tone to his yarns), he was just a gifted raconteur.
I have a few traveller’s tales of my own, and he listened to mine with genuine interest. We parted with the cliched “nice to have met you”–but in this case, I know we had both actually enjoyed the 13-hour flight.
You know Xema, since first reading your post, I still can’t get that quoted sentiment out of my head. Suffering surely is relative. When comparing my mundane gripes (about a numb ass & fear of drooling publicly in my sleep) to the countless Mainland Chinese who were torn to shreds by sharks as they tried to swim to freedom in Hong Kong - things certainly are put in a more realistic perspective.
I recall reading something similar this suumer by Chris Ayres; Times of London embedded Iraqi War correspondent and author of this summer’s ‘War Reporting For Cowards’. To paraphrase: 'When your up in a helicopter with a bunch of Marines taking on anti-aircraft fire, suddenly you lose all the fears you had flying a commercial airliner.