Top Flight 8/6-8/7

If you ever have the opportunity to fly business class, take it! Do not hesitate, unless you’re paying for it yourself, then think twice because the tickets aren’t cheap. I got to do it, and aside from some minor issues that had nothing to do with the plane or staff it was wonderful.
I checked in at 4:00 for my flight and spent an hour outside the ticketing booth chatting and watching some of the other travelers. The most interesting of all the travelers we saw was the guy with the long silver case that TSA didn’t want to take right away. I think he was a hunter and that was his gun. I know he paid a skycap $50 to go buy a $7 lock, so obviously TSA wanted it locked up before they’d put it on the plane. Fortunately, I don’t think he was on my plane. Then there was his girlfriend. She must have passed us 10 times, but it was all one way. We never could figure out how she’d pass us and then show up two minutes later by his side at the security checkpoint.

After I got into the terminal I got some currency exchanged and headed for the Admiral’s Club. Suh-weet! Either the receptionist was completely taken by my incredibly good looks or she had a problem separating the drink tickets because I got two free drinks while the rest of my group only got one. I’m going to choose to believe that it was my good looks. Feel free to disagree, but do it internally. Since I’m not a big drinker, I gave one of my tickets to the boss. I’ve discovered on this trip that he loves, I mean really LOVES, beer. We hung out in there just shooting the breeze until it was time to board. The Admiral’s Club is nice. If you ever have the opportunity to go in there, don’t pass it up.

Board the plane and relax into luxury. The seats were like flying Lay-Z-Boys. Or maybe movie theatre seats with a built in pillow and footrest. It had a tray table that pulled out of the armrest and little TV screens that came out of the front of the seats. Before takeoff a flight attendant came around with complimentary orange juice and champagne. Strangely they didn’t combine the two into mimosas. Maintenance was working on our plane for a little while, so we ended up taking off an hour late. We must have had a good tailwind though because we were only half an hour late arriving. The flight attendant also handed out the dinner menus.

During dinner I watched Shrek 2. I think I liked it more the second time than I did the first. Fairy Godmother wasn’t a nice person. I probably wouldn’t have watched anything if it hadn’t been for my seatmate. I got this 66 year old man that looked like Santa Claus without a beard. He was a very friendly guy who really wanted to chat. I’m not a chatty guy in general and I’m certainly not interested in doing a whole lot of chatting on a plane. I don’t want to get to know the people I’m flying with all that much. He introduced himself and said "I guess we’re going to be bedmates tonight." I told him there would be no cuddling. He proceeded to tell me all sorts of details about himself. Why and where he’s going in the UK, that his wife had left him after 42 years for another woman, how one of his flight attendant girlfriends gave him a spa pack full of condoms. It was a bit of torture actually. I got all sorts of advice on trust and love from him. Thankfully, his seat was slightly broken so I was informed that he would be moving to the empty row in front when bedtime came around.

After dinner it was lights out and time to try to sleep. I didn’t have a whole lot of luck with that. I think I may have dozed on and off for about four hours, but it certainly wasn’t enough to feel like real sleep. I tried listening to music, controlling my breathing, counting sheep… everything! Nothing really worked all that well. Eventually I gave up and watched some more television. They were rerunning the last couple episodes of Friends over and over again. Amusing the first time, not so much the second.

After eight long hours in the plane – no matter how luxurious, it’s still eight hours on a plane – we finally landed in London. Customs was a breeze. Nothing really exciting there except that I got a stamp in my passport. It’s my first, and you never forget your first. The airport was where those of us heading to York split off from those staying in London. We had to go get train tickets and find the train. Then we took a cross city train to King’s Cross Station. I didn’t get a chance to look around very much, but it didn’t look like I expected it to. The train to York was certainly nothing like I expected. My views of English trains have been limited to the Harry Potter movies, so I expected the trains to look like that. Not even close. There are no compartments. There was definitely no place to put your luggage. I just left it by the door and hoped that no one wanted to see what kind of clothes I had. I met a nice couple from Durham, but they weren’t all that interested in talking. The English countryside is nice, but once you’ve seen a couple of farms and cottages they really don’t change all that much. The definitely don’t get any more exciting.
Day one in York was uneventful. I explored the hotel. It’s old but still pretty nice. The room is tiny and there aren’t enough plugs. No TV worth speaking of although I did see Star Trek: Insurrection and Two and a Half Men. The toilet is a nightmare and the bath/shower makes me feel like a giant. We went to dinner at a pub. The food was ok, but it didn’t really stand out. Keep in mind that by this time I am absolutely exhausted, so nothing is right with the world. I also had some problems with my credit card company. Their sorry asses will be dropped as soon as I get back to the States.

Anyway, that’s it. I’m tired and I’m going to sleep. I’ll put up something else as soon as I can get some internet access. Who knows when that will be though.