My First Intercontinental Flight

October 9th, 2008. My first intercontinental flight wasn’t as rough as I thought it would be, but it was pretty hard. Not only was it 14 hours of time in a cramped seat, but I was bracketed by THREE screaming youngsters. I was also very tired – we boarded at about 1 am, and didn’t sleep for another couple of hours.

Here’s Sara outlining all the flights we need to get to Beijing:

Here’s the official flight “Highs and Lows”:

Lows:

• Three screaming youngsters – two in the seats directly in front of me, one in the seat directly behind. I felt bad for them (and their parents) – nearly 25% of the time the kids were screaming.
• The seats didn’t actually recline. Instead, the cushions just slid “up and down.”
• The seat-back “pouch” wasn’t a pouch at all – it was a sort of clipboard that held the safety brochure and that’s about it. There was no place to put trash, my magazines, etc.
• I got nothing done – no work, no reading, nothing.

Here’s what we looked like leading up to the long-haul:

Highs:

• The entertainment system was awesome. Movies, TV shows, and a tourist guide all on-demand.
• It really wasn’t that bad. I got to get up and walk around quite a bit.
• When we got off the plane, the cabin looked like a trash bomb had exploded. There was stuff EVERYWHERE – blankets and trash strewn about, pillows everywhere, etc. It was hilarious.

Bottom line: If you’re a tourist, flying coach is fine. You can do it. However, if you’re making that flight more than once every few months, business class (or better) is the only way to go.