Friday Five: Flying High

 

There are a lot of things not to like about flying. But the Friday Fives are relentlessly positive, so, as I embark on a thirty-six hour plane journey around the world, here are some of the things I do like.

5 Things I Like About Aeroplane Travel:

1. The films – often really up-to-date pictures that you were planning to see on terra firma, classics that you always meant to watch someday, or sections of TV dramas that you missed out on because you were busy doing something other with your life.
2. Duty free – even if you don’t buy anything (and you know you’ll end up with a Toblerone), it’s fun to sniff all the perfume and check out the free gifts with litres of gin or whisky.
3. The little stuff – from mini packets of nuts to pocket-sized g&ts, somehow all the packaging on the aeroplane seems cute.
4. Famous people – occasionally you glimpse them as they waft through the airport in a cloud of photographers and bad disguises – sometimes you even get to share a plane, although of course they always sit up front in the big seats.
5. The warm hand towels – nowhere else do you get this luxury, apart from maybe massage therapists. The situations could not be more incongruous. You may be cramped up with your knees digging into your chin and your back unbearably jack-knifed, but your face feels fresh and your pores cleansed.