Thursday, July 28, 2011

Travelogue: Australia – A Pleasant Surprise


Goodbye London ~ Hello Bangkok
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Why am I smiling? This is the moment I have dreaded!

I will admit it. There are two days of this entire trip that I have been dreading since I agreed to take it. One of them technically begins this evening; the other begins two weeks from today. They are, not to put too fine a point on it the days I will be flying to and from Australia.

At six-foot-four, sitting in a coach seat (even an economy plus coach seat) is not a prospect that I relish. Make it a twenty-three hour flight and I look forward to it with more than a little trepidation.

I've pretty-much kept my mind off it, and avoided the concern by throwing myself into the work of getting ready for the trip; completing the knowledge transfer, putting the rest of my specifications to bed, and generally getting working on clearing my slate so that I can concentrate on getting this trip put together for my clients.

But actually arriving at Heathrow, I was finally unable to avoid the thought of 23-hours in coach any longer. So imagine my pleasant surprise: I had been able to wrangle myself an aisle seat on the bulkhead and so, when my boarding pass was a different row number than the one I had selected I was momentarily alarmed.

"You've been upgraded to Business Class." the ticket agent cheerily informed me when I asked about the row change.

"Cool! Thanks!"

It is definitely a more comfortable seat, and for someone less than six-feet tall, it is possibly a nice bed. When I pout the chair into "Bed" configuration a little while ago, my feet hit the shell of the seat in front of me and my neck bent forward to accommodate for the difference between my length and the bed's. Although I am getting no sleep on the flight from London to Bangkok, I am at least more comfortable on that leg of the flight.

According to the animated map, we've recently passed over Islamabad and are over the Indian subcontinent. So, I guess this is as far east as I have ever but then, that would be true every moment from here until I land at Sydney.

I have a nice comfy seat, I have a nice big table to hold my laptop, and the flight staff could not be nicer! There is power for my laptop so I can write my blog entries, I have books, movies, and television programs on my tablet. I am all set.

Wherever you are this evening, I hope that you are as comfortably situated!

Don Bergquist – 28 July 2011 – Somewhere Over India, BA02009 Bound For Sydney

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