Round The World and other travels

I boarded the 737-400 and took the long walk of shame to 23F. 23F!!! Good grief, I'd forgotten that planes went back that far!   I was seated in the middle of a sizeable Oriental tour group, which was fine as they all seemed to be very quiet and restrained types. I sensed they were all tired out, either by sight-seeing or perhaps by a long-haul journey to get to Europe. I glanced out of the window at the luggage loading belt directly underneath me and you can probably imagine my relief when I spotted my own suitcase gliding up towards me. It had been a tight connection, but my luggage had made it!

We pushed back slightly prematurely at 1744 and began a very long taxi to Runway 36L. I nearly dozed off while we were still on the ground! We finally became airborne at two minutes past six o'clock.

In-flight catering in Y consisted of a pack of four sandwiches, again washed down with Heineken, followed by coffee and a biscuit. I noticed that space wasn't too bad at all, even back there in the bowels of the (wh)Y cabin. I was still comfortable when 22F reclined. I also noticed that the cabin was once again spotless, even in this much older aircraft. As on the previous sector, I passed the time by reading, the initial inclination to doze having passed.

Those of us on the right side had excellent views of the city as we made our approach into BCN, where we touched down at 1948. Once again, we managed to reach our stand in just three minutes.

And so this vaguely nostalgic reminder of life behind the curtain was over, and I could now look forward to my usual touch of luxury for the remainder of the trip.   I hoped that arrival in my first destination would also mark the end of unexpected deviations from my carefully crafted plans. Only time would tell ...