Well, that was fun!

Ted and I flew to London at dinner time, with our arrival in London scheduled for just before lunch the next day. While we were waiting to board our flight, I had a little blast from the past when I saw one of my ESL teachers and his wife. We had a nice chat and learned they are going on from London to Budapest.

Last year, Ted and I decided that, for our next long flight, we’d spring for business class. As a result, we flew upscale to Europe today. Not only did that put us into Zone 1 boarding, but since we regularly fly in the main cabin, we felt like little kids opening Christmas gifts when we took our seats.

First, I stowed my back pack in my own overhead storage bin. Then I had to make room to sit, because my seat held a full set of bedding: mattress pad, quilted blanket, and pillow. There was even a pair of slippers in case I needed to get up during my sleep time.
There was a chilled bottle of water at each seat, and we were immediately offered a choice of beverages. I chose orange juice. Then we were given dinner and breakfast menus to make our meal choices. We also selected a wake-up time.
There were lots of comfort adjustments (4 separate menus), including a seat massage.
The complimentary toiletries bag included a toothbrush, toothpaste, sleep mask, ear plugs, a glass-cleaning cloth, soap, and even a pair of socks.
Dinner was served as soon as we reached a safe altitude. Note that dinner included a tray-sized white tablecloth. This was the first course . . .
. . . and here’s the main course. Everything was delicious! My choice of beverage was (free) wine. The breakfast was equally attractive and good. No disposable dishes or plastic wrap in sight!

With the nice blanket and the comfortable pillow in hand, I dropped my seat to the completely flat position, adjusted the mattress firmness, and actually slept soundly from the time I finished dinner until my breakfast wake-up call five hours later. Of course, it was a full breakfast, so Ted and I weren’t hungry when we arrived in London.

Wow! If flying were always like this (like it used to be years ago, with comfortable seating space, reasonably good meals at no additional cost, and free checked luggage), there would be far fewer grumpy passengers. The only downside was that it was lonely. Business class is, by definition, designed for people who want to work with minimal distractions while they fly. Although Ted and I had adjoining seats, we were physically too far apart to talk to each other during the flight. Still, we’re actually looking forward to our nine-hour overseas flight home instead of dreading the discomfort of the main cabin for that long.

Note: Not everyone in business class has class. The guy across the aisle from me took off his pants and slept in his boxers. I couldn’t believe it when I saw him do that.