Round The World and other travels

As I waited at the gate for boarding to commence, I noticed that last-minute First Class upgrades were being offered for $100, and they seemed to be quite popular. As I stepped aboard, I immediately became aware of the friendly and welcoming flight attendants, who were greeting all the passengers. I settled into 7A, the last row of First Class, and was pleased by both the new appearance of the cabin and the extra width available on the Airbus - it really does make a difference. Orders were taken on the ground for drinks to be served after take-off. Unfortunately, we were delayed by baggage loading and it was 1505 before we pushed back from the stand. With DCA being relatively compact, however, we made it into the air just ten minutes later. Take-off was towards the east, which meant no great views of the city, but then I'd have been on the wrong side for that anyway.

Drinks were served, accompanied by a choice of nibbles from the snack basket. I found the trivia quiz, Cranium, on the overhead screens to be strangely addictive : every time I caught sight of a question, I felt drawn into waiting for the answer to be revealed. A second round of drinks was offered, followed by another offering from the snack basket. It was about now that I began to suspect the awful truth, yet I was still hardly able to believe it : there wasn't going to be any meal service, even in First Class. I later learned that US don't serve meals in any class on flights of less than 4 hours   Come back AA; all is forgiven!

We passed to the east of Jacksonville, then over to the Gulf Coast, which we followed all the way to our destination. Touchdown was at 1725 and involved surprisingly long use of reverse thrust in these environmentally conscious times. It also seemed a surprisingly long taxi, although we still made it onto stand within five minutes of landing.