I flew back from San Francisco today. Or rather, given that it was a ten hour flight plus a four hour delay, I flew back yesterday and missed Sunday out completely.
On the flight out from Heathrow I was stuck in the Economy seat from hell. Middle of a block of five, as far away from the aisle as possible. My chair didn't recline far, but alas the lady in front's chair reclined all the way, for the whole journey. The inflight movies were all dire, all six of them. The video map of the flight, the one they let you watch to see how far from south-west Iceland you are, stopped working for most of the journey. Five minutes after I got a book out to read they dimmed the cabin lights, at which point I discovered that my overhead lamp didn't work. I could barely strain my eyes to read, not that I had any room left in front of me to turn the pages over anyway.
On the flight back I was rather luckier. I got an upgrade and joined the posh travellers in Business. I was right at the back of Business, so I was very aware of all the common people in the front row of Economy looking over my shoulder to see what I had that that they didn't. I had champagne and nuts, they had a bag of complimentary cocktail nibbles. I had Saturday's Times newspaper, they had the inflight magazine. I had filet mignon with roast red potatoes and Chardonnay, they had a microwaved portion of pasta with 7-Up. I had the vaguely presentable air crew, they had the old hags nearing retirement. I had room to stretch my legs out and get some sleep, they developed deep-vein thrombosis and bags under the eyes. I'd spent 15000 mileage points, they were suffering everything I'd suffered on the flight out. Naturally I felt really guilty at my good fortune in being upgraded, for at least three minutes.
It's good to be home, even if it is cold, and quiet, and flat. But I may have huge difficulties trying to get some sleep, given that my body still thinks it's mid-afternoon. Maybe if I try to go to sleep sitting in my armchair, pretending I'm somewhere over Northern Canada...
