The reality here is the fact that I have been up for close to 23 hours...non stop action! Ok, perhaps there was a bit of a lull in there. 14 hours of which I was stuck in a tiny chair on a large plane which was hurling through the sky at close to 1000 km/hr. Now sitting in the Dubai Airport waiting for my next 14 hour flight. So, as I said "goodbye" to Seattle and look forward to embracing Perth and the Coral Coast, this is what must be endured.
Arriving at SeaTac a good 3 hours prior to departure, always a good idea. Have you been caught up in the traffic and chaos here? Plan accordingly. Worse case scenario, you can cozy up to the bar for a mimosa or two. TSA PreCheck, yup another great idea. However, once I arrived at my token Pre-Check appointment a month or so back, I was informed that if you mostly travel Internationally, not to bother. I headed their advice and still made it through TSA in less than 15 minutes.
Emirates is one of my favorite airlines. Their planes are clean, staff exceptional, food amazing and of course you gotta love the having a glass of wine whenever you choose. From Seattle, this is by far the best way to go if heading to the Land Down Under.....or at least if going to Perth. The farthest capital city on the planet from anything. Literally. 14 hours to Dubai, layover of anywhere from 3-12 hours, then another 14 hour flight to Western Australia. YeeeeHawwwww. Oh what we do to get to the places we love. Didn't Dr. Seuss say that?
Getting back to how to pass the time. Personally , I never travel without my cashmere throw, a silk pillow case, snacks, headphones and a book or two. You just never know if a flight will run warm or cold and or how much you will have to avoid the person sitting next to you. My throw is big enough to cover me, as a blanket or a wrap...but small enough to roll into a small ball to cover with said silk pillow case, to use for padding while trying to catch a few zzzzzz's. On this particular flight, our first meal came within an hour of take off. Plane food has come a long way baby, especially when flying internationally, no small bag of oyster crackers here. A lovely array of BBQ chicken and roasted potatoes, salad of fresh greens, warm ciabatta roll, wine, tea, fruit, cheese and crackers. Water, drink lots of water. Remember also, not to wander around without your shoes on. No matter how nice the airline, heading into the toilet with just your socks covering your tootsies, is a very bad idea.
After the meal, I dove into a movie with Keanu Reeves, which lasted a little under 2 hours. Then I read a few magazines I had brought with and tried to shut my eyes for a bit of a rest. Flying over the polar icecaps at 40,000 feet doesn't give much to look at from the windows, but the stars did provide for a spectacular night sky for a while as well. Sadly tonight, no Aurora Borealis. About 7 hours into the trip, fresh hot pizza was delivered to our seats, with of course more wine if we wanted. Really quite tasty. Once again after this treat, I read for a bit, put my headphones on, listened to some music, tried to shut my eyes for a short nap. Sleeping is not something I do well on flights, though I do manage to warp my short legs into a bit of a fetal position for some "comfort". Lucky for me, the seat next to me was empty and the gentleman at the end, looking sophisticated in a full 3 piece suit, barely moved at all during the flight. At close to the 10th hour, I put on another movie, this time Tom Hanks in what must be the sequel to the Da Vinci Code....about half way through, yet another amazing meal of scrambled eggs and roasted tomatoes with spinach....finished this tasty breakfast and completed the movie.
The sun was high and we were now low enough to watch the desert from above. It's rifts and valleys, mountains of sand and baron beauty. Mesmerizing. And voila, landing announcements. Dubai was eminent. 14 hours done. Easy Peasy. Now let's see how well I fare on the next half of this journey.
