November 12, 2009
The Flight Over
For my recent trip to Spain, I left Portland early on a Tuesday morning and was given a seat in First Class. It was nice to have the extra leg room and the hot breakfast was delicious. The smooth 4 hour flight to Dallas was just the precursor of my fabulous flight to Madrid. I was able to get 2 good naps on that first short leg out of Portland.
Business Class Media Center by PDXFirefly
Out of Dallas, again I was able to sit in Business Class on the new wide-bodied aircraft. OK… Have you ever seen those seats? They have about 15 different positions to which they can be adjusted. The seat adjustment controls are the little fan shaped blue buttons in the center armrest. Then each passenger gets their own TV monitor and you can choose the movies you want to watch on the 9 hour flight. It had been many years since I had flown internationally in First Class and I was like a kid in a candy shop. I had no idea how to operate any of these wonderful gadgets but I had a delightful seat-mate and he kindly showed me how to operate everything.
The fun of flying Business Class is all the amenities that are part of the service. Waiting for me at my seat was my warm duvet and fluffy pillow. Not the little ones the airlines used to have in coach, no this pillow was just smaller than a bed pillow and very comfy. They actually made me look forward to my nap-time later on in the flight.
The Flight Attendants start out with “May I hang your coat?” and continue with the welcome-aboard champagne, juice or water. I took the champagne! (Did you have any doubt which one I’d choose?) The airlines have a reputation for serving extremely high quality ‘beverages’ on board and I was not going to pass up this opportunity to try what was available. I was not disappointed in the least.
Just as I started sipping my champagne, the Captain came on the intercom and said that due to a mechanical problem, everyone would need to gather all of their belongings and deplane while the mechanics ran a few tests. So… that is what we all did. I missed my glass of amber bubbly while waiting on the hard seats in the terminal.
Soon the problem was fixed and everyone re-boarded the aircraft. Waiting for the Business Class passengers at our high-tech seats were the special Bose ear-phones ( on tray table in photo) for our use during the flight. Also there was a small navy blue amenities kit (also on tray table) that contained a toothbrush, toothpaste, Burt’s Bees hand lotion and chapstick, eye shades and in-flight socks along with a few other items. I was feeling fairly pampered and the charming Flight Attendants didn’t let up on the pampering! That was just fine by me!
Next the In-Flight Menu was handed to us so we could make our entree choice. After the safety demo, seat belts were checked and it was time for take off and we were on our way to sunny Madrid just 9 hours away.
I’m not going to go into all the details of the wonderful service, but just say that from the appetizers to the salad to the entree to the ice cream sundae for desert, it was all delicious, well-prepared and beautifully served. Portland Firefly did her best to sample some of the bountiful array of ’beverages’ that are served on board. She couldn’t consume alcohol while undergoing Chemo these last eight months and didn’t really miss it at all, but this was a very special trip and the Spanish Sherry and Spanish wine were perfect compliments to my appetizers and meal.
My seat mate was a real pro at flying and had it figured out to where he could watch three movies and get a decent nights sleep as well. I was a little bit slower on my learning curve and only watched 2 1/2 movies and really couldn’t quite figure out the seats well-enough to get really comfortable, but I did sleep a little bit.
Sleeping Firefly by PDXFirefly
Here is a picture of me sleeping on the flight. Well, feigning sleep for the picture is actually more accurate. But notice that the airline seat is so reclined with the footrest up that it is almost like a bed. I am wearing the soft sleep cap that my neighbor knit for me along with my AA eyeshades.
My flights were wonderful ! I still can’t believe it. I guess I’ll just have to take another international flight soon to make sure that it really is a wonderful as I remember it to be!
