One of the perks/challenges of my job is needing to travel on a semi-regular basis. For me, that means leaving the family behind for up to a week every two months. More often than not, this ends up being a few days in Germany, or somewhere else in Europe.
Now, I love visiting Germany and I work with some fantastic colleagues based there, so it’s always great to go. Being able to speak enough of the language to get by without making a complete fool of myself is another reason to be grateful for those trips. But, I’ll admit that after three successive three day visits to Stuttgart staying in three star hotels, it gets a bit repetitive.
That’s why I’m rather excited to have jetted off today (or tomorrow, as it is now) on my latest corporate trade mission, which will be altogether different. For the next 8 days, I’m swapping a knife and fork for chop sticks, the usual budget commuter flight for a slightly more luxurious ‘World Traveller Plus’ recliner seat, and the comfort of my daily routine for not having a clue where I am or what time it is. At the moment, I think I’m somewhere over Mongolia, China or Kazakhstan, but I’m not really sure!
Yes, I’m off to Japan and I can assure you this is well outside my comfort zone! Apart from the food, the language, Japan’s very conservative (small c) culture and the need to navigate the Shinkansen while suffering the effects of the 9hr time difference, I am sure it’ll be a breeze!
In all seriousness, it’s a fantastic opportunity in both the professional and personal senses and I really can’t wait to be there; not least because I’ve been on this plane for 9 hours, there are still another 4.5 to go and despite getting up at 3am (GMT) and being knackered, I can’t sleep.
So what better to do than check out the in-flight entertainment and record my observations for you all to have the pleasure of reading once the plane lands. Yes, then, not now. British Airways are in the process of rolling out WiFi across their fleet, including free WiFi for messaging/emails if you’re an ‘Executive Club’ member. I’ve enjoyed this on my last few BA flights, but sadly not this one. It’s either not working or the roll-out hasn’t covered this aircraft yet. Hmm, 13.5hrs without interacting with the outside world, how… blissful!
Right. Relevant dad-blog content coming up!
On this 787 flight, I have the pleasure (I think) of a bulkhead seat. Each of the three bulkheads has a fold down bassinet space for tiny people to sleep in. There’s one baby on this flight, but they’re not in WTP. They’re either further up in business class or at the back, where right now, fortunately, I’m not. Firstly, to those two parents, I really hope you’re having a good flight! Kiddo looks too young to cause chaos up and down the aisles, but old enough to be aware that something’s up, so sleep is definitely not guaranteed. I’ve not heard a peep from them wherever they may be, and although my Sony noise-cancelling headphones are stunningly excellent in every way, they can’t completely silence a screaming infant. I promise I haven’t tried this at home…
Oh no! A quick toilet break to economy land reveals the location of said infant, who is asleep, right next to the pair of loos on this side of the plane. This is truly the ultimate ‘to flush or not to flush’ scenario. Of course I flushed, that is the only reasonable conclusion in public. I’m not an animal. Inevitably our mini traveller started crying the second I flushed the toilet. I open the door to see my fellow dad-of-one cuddling and rocking baby back to sleep. I’m so sorry!
I’m not the only one here who should be feeling guilty. The passenger next to me, who is Scottish (woop!) and equally incapable of sleeping, is not alone on this flight. No, she’s travelling with her partner. And where is he? Beside her? Nooo! He keeps popping back from his lie-flat bed in ‘Club World’ to check she’s doing alright. Regardless of how this situation has come about (I guess there’s a chance it’s for ‘operational reasons’), he should be feeling almost as guilty as I do for indirectly waking up the rear half of the plane, if not more! Perhaps he’d like to join her back here. I know someone who’ll gladly take his place.
Needless to say, Oneanddad has safely landed in Tokyo, so has borrowed some free Shinkansen WiFi to get this uploaded.
By the way, if you decide to invest in those headphones, I may earn a tiny bit of commission. Otherwise, all other links will earn me absolutely nothing – but they will help my SEO score; you don’t care about that, but I do!