FLYING HOME
Short flights of an hour or two mean you don’t see the sights along the way, you simply sit comfortably for a little while and then you are there. There is the inconvenience of getting to the airport early, of going through security, which can take a while and then waiting for the plane to take off which all doubles the time of the trip. It doesn’t matter what class you fly, the trip is the same.
Long flights during the day, such as the one we made from Amsterdam to Atlanta, have a longer check in time, and the additional irritation of jet lag. In our case we arrived in Asheville at 7:30 p.m., a reasonable hour to be picked up, but for us it was 1:30 a.m Amsterdam time. and by the time we got in bed it was 3:30 a.m. after a tiring day. In first class you are able to stretch out, which on an overnight flight to Europe lets you sleep better. But on an 8 hour flight in first class you are going to spend two hours being served a fancy dinner and one to two hours being awakened and fed a fancy breakfast. If you try to go to sleep an hour after your delicious dinner meal at say 10 p.m. after taking off at 7 p.m. you will have only three hours to try and sleep comfortably in your recliner. The question is whether those three hours of restless sleep, no match for your own bed, and two good meals are worth several thousand dollars. They certainly are to the airlines because first and business class is where airlines make most of their money. Flying overnight for 15 hours to Singapore would give you more for your money, but of course cost a lot more.
Both Susie and I had not slept well the night before, there is something about wondering if you have left anything undone and not knowing what is to come that makes it hard to sleep the last night before flying. So we slept for several hours on the flight but still arrived home dead tired at 3:30 a.m. Amsterdam time.
I don’t have photographs of our trip. Instead I will put on more photographs of Haarlem.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 