British Airways
These are a collection of notes I took while flying from LAX to DUB as part of moving for a job. They are not completely coherent, and neither was I.
About to take off, leaving the US for I don’t know how long.
First international flight; and I’m grinning like an idiot.
British air ways has a cute video for safety.
We’re moving forward it’s going holy shit. We’re about to take off. I think I’m used to cabin crew doing some of these earlier, and different warnings.
I saw them move the he control surfaces around, flexing the bird’s wings before she’s away.
And those engines are massive, air sucking things.
We’re sat on the runway, engines aren’t spooling yet. It’s so normal, procedural, who cares. Last stop, Heathrow.
And then they take a breath, and we lumber and then sprint. Smoothly, bodily fast faster, leaning and flying.
Juggling my phone, I rush to snap pictures of the sights as they go by below and on the horizon, the San Gabriels, Catalina, Queen Mary, Long Beach harbor. I relax into my seat only slightly, to have the flight attendant pass by. Holy crap these flight attendants are nice. She just had a 5 minute conversation with me, she knew I was the one connecting customer to Ireland, and was offered to hand me food packets when I left the plane.
The window system is interesting to play with, electric dimmer, although a 3/4 brightness is all that’s getting through for the moment.
2 hours into the flight, watch the grand Budapest hotel. Very fun west Anderson film.
This is such a nice experience, I am always amazed and enjoy what first and business class are able to do compared to economy. I can’t use enough words to describe how great fun I am to sit here, where I have a blanket, pillow, and am able to completely lay down and snooze.
Now the sun has set, the last I’ll see in (or over) the United States for a while.
Funny to watch a tv show where a dude flys to Seattle to pick up a 787 for BA. I’ve seen where they make them, and I’m sitting in a finished product. Now it’s time for frozen. I really should try and sleep now, because it’s not happening otherwise. We’re also due into LHW about an hour early. So I get another hour of layover. There’s less then 50 people on board.
I’ve never before had the full privilege of laying down inside an aircraft, and the plane feels like a mix between a car and a boat. You feel the constant forward motion, but the randomness of the air, bouncing lightly this way and that, and the slight shifts in pitch and yaw as the pilots adjust the course. The rush of the engines wheering is like a angry bee outside the windows, keeping you alive.
The staff are incredibly kind and helpful, putting together a small lunch for me for my 10 hour layover.
I lost a few things here through an app swap. Some recallable bits:
- I can see foreign soil rising beneath me ( written poetically).
- 250 years of cultural separation (I’m not really here as a history expert or for the context of this history, though I hope it will not color my experiences.)
- Only I'll be leaving British soil to go to another country that fought for its independence
- I can see charming British farms that fed the British war machine of empire.
I can’t say my heart is especially racing, as I can monitor it through my watch.
I would, if I had more time, like to view the spot with George Washington’s statue that sits on soil brought over from mount Vernon.
I will admit, Hamilton is now playing in my head. I know I cannot laugh at the British folk for the empires they lost to us, because frankly, they don’t like to be reminded. Or do they? John olive makes it seem ridicule is a healthy part of their culture...
On the ground. British ground. Quite strange really. And at the same time, not.
Now for the next problem, my cellphone isn’t working to gather up EU time. So I’m still reading 1:30 am, instead of 9:30 as I should.
We’re at the gate, hardly a good time to turn back.