Up in the Air

There was a time when I flew coast to coast almost every month, which made it a good thing that, for the most part, I enjoyed being Up in the Air.   Yes, it helped that with so many flights on Ameican Airlines came Aadvantage miles which allowed me to fly first class most of the time.  Some of the other airborne annoyances, like loud, inebriated businessmen or First Class chatterboxes were mitigated by my Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones and my favorite playlists in the mp3 player I always kept in my briefcase.  I’ve always liked the window seat because I find the world spread out beneath me, five miles or so down, awe inspiring.  I found I could get a lot of work … or reading … or writing done to the tune of my favorite music.  I’ve made some important decisions at 30,000 feet.  I’d look at people doing absolutely nothing for a six hour flight and wonder, How the heck can they do that?  The best in-flight song ever is, in my opinion, Derek and the Dominos’s Layla, by the way.  I’d love to know yours if you have one.  I suppose most people don’t have favorite in-air songs.

As my wife, Muri, and I have aged, we like having each other within shouting distance, not that we shout very much.  We may be in different rooms or in the same room but not talking but we both like knowing the other is close by.  Fortunately I don’t fly very often for business any more and the few trips we do take, we’re side by side … in coach.  It took a while to get used to that.  But today, we are side by side in First Class on the way to see our siblings back East.  Turns out I had enough miles accumulated using our Aadvantage MasterCard that we could upgrade.  Things have changed up here.   For one, I’m listening to my music on my smartphone (in Airplane Mode, of course).   The seats are still spacious and nicely upholstered but for my money (well, more correctly, for my miles) they are less comfortable than the old ones.   The drinks are still free and the Bloody Marys are still as good as ever, but the food portions have gotten smaller.   And believe me, when they ran out of steak, I never found myself stuck with a polenta cake with lentil chili for lunch back then.  Must be The Invasion of the Vegans (have you seen the movie?).  I have my own video screen on the back of the seat in front of me that lets me choose from movies to watch for free.  I watched one of my favorite documentaries, Twenty Feet from Stardom, about pop music’s backup singers.  It always makes me tear up, both because of the unbelievable singing and the disappointment some of them feel having never made it as a star.  Then I watched Marvel’s Ant-Man, which ridiculous but fun.  So much for working while Up in the Air.   But just for old times sake, I’ve decided to write this post during the last hour before we descend into Boston.   Hopefully, I’ll be able to post some pictures of fall foliage  in the next few days.  I sure do miss New England autumns, even after (gasp!) forty-four years in California.

Anyway, thanks for dropping by and have a great weekend.

Explore posts in the same categories: travel

Tags: curmudgeonly rants, feeling older, flying, humor, movies, music, writing and blogging

You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.