14 thoughts that go through your mind on a long-haul flight.
1. The excitement starts. Whether you're going away or coming home. Without a doubt, there's excitement in the air when you hear that PA announcement “The flight is boarding.” What beautiful things will this flight bring? What food will you choose out of the two options? What movies will you watch that will make you want to change your life? EXCITING.
2. Then the relief that you made it on-board fills your body. As the flight begins, you sit down in your 18.5-inch seat (which will now be called home) for the next how many hours. You take in your new surroundings and feel pleased with yourself for making it through customs without having over 100mls of liquid or without forgetting your passport. You wonder when you will receive the menu for the flight, and more importantly when they will come around with the alcohol. But whatever works, right now you’re just glad you made it.
3. Anticipation. You’ve been sitting for what feels like hours now, without the plane actually moving. In reality, it’s actually only been about 15 minutes but damn it, you want to get this trip started. You read over the safety instructions a few times, making sure you know exactly how to inflate your life jacket in case of a crash in water. You browse through the airline's magazine and read “How Sally redecorated her whole kitchen under $100.”
4. More excitement fills your body as you take off, you are reminded that this is one step closer to the in-flight entertainment and the free drinks.
5. A little bit of annoyance creeps in as you can’t find a movie you want to watch. But you troop on because traveling is supposed to be FUN.
6. You settle with a film that you never heard of and are pretty sure never came to the cinemas. At this point, you are trying to get back on the excitement bandwagon.
7. More frustration accrues as the movie is interrupted every five minutes with a PA announcing that reminds you “Smoking is not allowed on this flight, and please buckle your seat-belts as we are experiencing some turbulence.”
8. This is the part when the turbulence hits. Basically, when you start to think about how if the plane were to crash, would you be happy with how you had lived your life? You think about Sally and how she redecorated her kitchen for under $100. But apart from that, what have you accomplished? The angst continues as you drink wine from your plastic cup and think about all your regrets.
9. It all becomes a bit overwhelming. You take a nap.
10. You wake up and go for a 'walk' which is really just you walking a few steps and then abruptly stopping because someone wants to get their bag down from the overhead compartments. But yet you continue, because along with your looming life regrets, you don’t want Deep Vein Thrombosis on top of that.
11. After you return to your seat, you think about your regrets again, and how you need to change things to live a fuller life, like Sally. You make an impromptu list on the sick-bag about all the things you will do to improve your life: you will stop using plastic bags at the grocery store, you will start running or join a yoga group, or BOTH. You will start moisturising your elbows daily. Hell, why not start moisturising your elbows now? TREAT YOURSELF. Starting living for you. If all goes bad, at least you will have soft elbows.
12. You take another nap because all that thinking about improving your life is tiring.
13. You wake up as the plane is landing, remembering you have only watched one movie and played one round of online Scrabble with the man in seat 37A. You feel a little disappointed in your missed in-flight entertainment opportunities. But you can’t be too upset with yourself, as “Stop beating yourself up over the past.” Is number 14 on the list you made.
14. The flight lands, and your experience with long-haul flights ends. You carefully remember to bring your sick-bag-list with you which you will forget within the first hour of your final destination. But thank god, you made it.
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