Adventure in the Air

I spent Thanksgiving in Seattle; my brother and I visited his son and his family.  It was a wonderful holiday.  Not so much for the trips out and back.  We flew Southwest Air as the rates are the most reasonable and they could accommodate our leaving from different cities and meeting up on the first stop.  The flights were totally uneventful; we boarded timely, left on time, arrived a bit early.  The flight attendants were delightful, friendly, caring and very, very funny.  This added to the trip and it was a nice surprise that they could poke fun at the no-frills, tiny space features of the journey.

While squished in our seats my brother and I reminisced about air travel years ago.  He did a lot with is job, me not so much, but I did get to experience really fine air travel. We both agreed that the European airlines provided the best service and years ago Swiss Air was by far the best.

My reaction to my flight from NYC to Amsterdam was, if this is economy, what do they provide in first class?  The seats were ample, comfy and like a home recliner really reclined!  They provided fluffy slipper socks, a cozy pillow and a wonderfully soft wool blanket.  The meal was restaurant quality and there was a choice.  It was served on real plates with real flatware.  Before the meal they served a beverage and hor’s devours and after, with coffee or tea, Swiss chocolates, of course!  I felt like royalty.  On that trip I connected in Amsterdam to a flight to Tanzania on KLM.  Again, similar top of the line service; space, comfort and hospitality were the by-words. 

In the 70’s and 80’s I often flew from NY or Boston to Florida to visit my parents.  I would travel on whoever had the lowest fare, National, United, Delta and maybe some others.  The service did not compare with Swiss Air, but there was service and there was room to actually relax in your seat.  I remember working on knitting and crocheting projects without disturbing my seat-mates. And never felt the need to pack a “brown bag” for the journey.

Not so today.  On the trip to Seattle I sat in the middle seat between my brother and a very pleasant young man.  At no time during the entire trip could I sit back and relax both my shoulders against the seat back; I could twist sideways and do one or the other, but never both at the same time.  Similarly we all sat in rather rigid, at attention positions with our arms folded over our chests.  There simply was not enough room for one arm, let alone two on either arm rest.  And, with our carry on items stored under the seat in front of us, there was no room for our feet, so stretching one’s legs was also not an option.

Knowing in advance that there was limited food service and that our entire trip to Seattle was over 7 hours I had brought a few food items to sustain us; some sliced pepperoni and cheese with crackers, Clementine’s, cookies.  This in combination with the offered cheese and cracker packets did the trick.  Getting at these items and managing to eat them was another exercise in acrobatics as there was no elbow room and the tray table jammed us in even more.

Comfort aside, one of my most memorable flights was an in-country flight from New Delhi to Srinagar, Kashmir in India.  This was in the late 1980’s when fighting between Kashmir and Pakistan was just starting and travel there was still permitted.  The security check at both airports for departure and arrival was something I had never encountered before and matches today’s thoroughness, but without the computer and scanning technology.  All bags were opened and thoroughly searched, so much for neat and tidy packing.  All passengers were searched and patted down.  The airports were manned by the army and the solders, men and women, were equipped with machine guns and looked very threatening.

 Having nothing more dangerous than an emery board I got through the checks without event.  Not so this most recent trip to Seattle.  First glitch, my pants had metal rivets as decorations on the pockets.  I wore the damn cargo pants as I thought it would be great having all those pockets, never thought about the metal.  So, even though it was clear what was setting off the alarm I had to endure a full body pat down.  Having passed that, the next glitch was my carry on bag.  I had brought some knitting to occupy me on the plane (foolish me, I thought I would be able to move and use my arms and hands!).  The wooden needles were cause for further investigation, but got passed through also.  Not so lucky with my keys.  I have a key chain that separates and I usually only carry the car key with me, leaving the other end locked in the car.  Since I was leaving my car in long term parking for about a week I thought, hmmm, maybe I should take these also.  Attached to the end with my house and mail box keys are a tiny LCD flashlight and a minuscule  Swiss army knife.  The latter was the cause for real consternation.  I opted to let them toss it, but to get this screening process over with.

Going back to that in-country India flight.  It was a mid-day flight and lunch was served; the offering was a vegetarian curry with rice. Gracefully adorning the attractive plate was a tempting string bean, or so I thought.  Being delighted at its presence and being a lover of almost all thinks vegetable (on this trip my niece-in-law and grand-nieces have me almost convinced my opinion of Okra could be changed), I picked it up and popped it whole into my mouth thinking, ”YUM!”. 

It was about the third chew that my brain registered, NOT A STRING BEAN!  OMG, IT’S A CHILI PEPPER!  Ignoring all good manners I did spit it out, but the damage had been done.  My friend traveling with me said she could see the fire and smoke coming out of my nose and ears.  Lots of yogurt and plain rice eventually calmed my mouth, but I can still feel that initial burst of fire consuming my entire mouth and tongue.  My neighboring passengers found this amusing, me not so.  When the fire finally subsided I simply tucked my chin to my chest and prayed for this flight to end.