Reflections on a long flight

Having just crossed Australia twice, then the world I have arrived in th UK in poor shape.  But is there any real way out of that?

The first two journeys were painless and quick.  From Townsville to Brisbane was a quick hop, distracted by a farewell blog post, and a spot of news.  At this point my mind was active, and alert.  The time passed quickly through no external effort.  I hardly got out of my seat, and was a content little customer.

The second leg from Brisbane to Melbourne was also relatively painless.  My mind was ready for a movie, and a "closed circuit" entertained me well.  I also had a look through the selection available, and planned my movie please for the hours ahead. For domestic flights this was a pleasant experience.  My one gripe was that the usbower output was not sufficient to power an ipad.  Maybe my three were just isolated edge cases, but please qantas, with iPads and kindles becoming more popular these little things will matter more.

Transiting through Melbourne was a pleasant experience, the walk through security brisk, and refreshing. The border security guards were polite and pleasant.  

Is it usual for solo travellers to strike up a conversation with border guards? Maybe I feel the need for conversation more acutely when surrounded by strangers.

The third leg was a killer, the USB port still wasn't supplying enough juice for the iPads hungry needs.  The seats which were once wide enough for domestic travel, were now constricting, and imprisoning.  My sweat from being in the tropical heat was now a burden to my own nose. The entertainment list for the international flight was the same as the domestic flight, the screen more responsive to my touch, this was a relief, and it meant that I could attempt to take on the marathon movie diet I had naively planned.   The mind could not cope with watching after the first movie.  So I switched to tv shows.  Much less mental demand, more opportunities to remember to take the entertaining walk to the toilet.  After a season of the Big Bang theory, I switched to trying to sleep.  This flight was quite turbulent, and my mind was fighting my bodies signals. Itchy feet - take shoes off, itchy groin, itchy hair, itchy itchy itchy.  I eventually tuned into mike old fields tubular bells to try to float off.  This worked.  Distracting the mind from the bodies discomfort led to a form of sleep.  This ultra light "sleep" however backfired as my body rebelled at the end.  This was a discomfort that would take more than a walk to the toilet.  So at the back of the plane I started a series of stretches, to try and convince my body that I was not tied up.

 I salute the hosts of the first leg of QF9.  A grueling 12 hour shift with a lot of caged people is not something that I could do more than once.  The temptation to get drunk, and sleep it through was there, but that would only lead to more discomfort in the long run. 

Dubai airport was a relief.  A good solid walk through another set of security to get back on the same plane (QF9).  The knowledge that the worst was over, and that it was indeed further back than forward.  An entertaining duty free section, and an opulent shop. Plenty of contrast to the couped conditions that I had just endured.  

 

The last 8 hours of the flight were positively torture.  I was in the middle of a set of 3 seats.  Not on my preferred aisle seat.  Climbing out to take a walk was restricted by having to ask for permission, and not wanting to annoy my fellow traveller.  My bottom reached levels of numbers unheard of before due to me actually taking some snatches of sleep.  

I arrived at Heathrow a snip before the advertised arrival time of 0510, was picked up by my cousin, and deposited on a bed.  My sleep was then unnoticed, I woke 12 hours later after not realising I had slept.  After 2 hours with the family I then returned for another 8 hours slumber before joining the world feeling any sense of capability.

Could my journey have been more comfortable?  Without wanting too much, could showers be installed in international terminals?  Large locks with a dry area (for luggage and clothes) with a screened off wet area.  Similar to how the Dutch army constructed their unisex shower blocks in their bases in Bosnia would be ideal.  A shower revives the body, and allows the mind to focus on other things.  If Dubai had such a shower setup I reckon thousands of people would use this, it would take some maintenance, but this is a ground issue, rather than an air issue.  The second thing that would ease things for long distance travellers is more yielding seats.  As a younger man I used to travel using military transport frequently.  Military planes frequently reduce a lot of weight by employing webbing based seats, which allow air through and yield more to movements.  Military travellers however frequently do not mind so much the proximity to their neighbouring travellers that this entails.  

The next suggestion is to accept that 3 people just do not fit on those seats next to each other on an international flight.  I know that this is economical, but the person in the middle seat really gets a raw deal. Qantas operates some very long haul flights, and these flights maybe need some smarter use of space.  One option might be to include an extra deck and give people more lateral space.  This may have an implication in terms of the available oxygen per passenger, but this might be worth a try.  Being a bit more extreme, maybe qantas needs to look at how to improve sleep quality in coach.  I would not mind the cramped conditions if I could sleep well.  

Next time I take the journey I will look at the cost of premium economy seating.  However I doubt that having a bit more space in front of me would really solve a lot of the problems above.  Although it would have made the last leg much nicer.