Leaving on a jet plane

My father doesn't want to come visit, not because he doesn't like me and not because he doesn't like Japan. What's holding him back is the 13 hours he would have to fly each way to get here.

Sometimes I try to convince him it's not so bad. Then I make the trip and realize, oh yeah, it really is that bad. Being on a plane for that long is a little like being locked in a four by four box for a day. You have movies and books to entertain you, but whatever you do you can't escape the knowledge that you are trapped.

You watch the creeping progress of the plane on the little map shown on the screen attached to the seat in front of you. The guy in that seat reclines it as far as it will go. Suddenly the map is two inches from your face and you feel claustrophobic.

This trip, I got the hook-up. As I was boarding the plane the staff member who checked me on said, "oh, we had to change you." She pulled a different boarding pass out of the podium. "We were trying to keep a family together. Don't worry, it's a better seat."

As I walked down the breezeway to the plane I checked the row number - 25. I was pretty sure that put me in this new section United made up called economy plus. Usually it cost $120 to upgrade to a seat with about 5 inches more leg room. I got it for free. Also, my original seat had been a window, this one was an aisle.

Usually I like sitting by the window, but on a 13 hour flight it's good to be able to get up and stretch your legs or go to the bathroom without having to wake up some stranger to let you out of your box.

No matter how good the seat, after 8 hours I want to get off. I reach a state of panic right around the 8 hour mark. Time is not passing. I will be stuck here forever. There is no escape. I usually calm myself down by attempting to nap or listening to a book on tape.

Suddenly the flight attendants are turning on the lights and coming by with breakfast. It's all over. We'll be landing in less than an hour. But that panic time stays with me convincing me that there's no need to make that trip again for a long while.

As I left the plane I passed through business class, with it's leather seats that reclined without putting you in your neighbor's face. There were slippers on the floor and single wrapped chocolate nestled in the little tray on the armrest of one chair.

Someday I want to try business class, see how the other half lives.

I leave you today with a quote that might possibly be a paraphrase of something Einstein once said, "When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity."