Day 1031: Business Class, You Have Forsaken Me!

Okay, so… as I mentioned the other day I am determined to fly business class back to Belgrade when I finally leave Islamabad.  And get this; most of my friends have been getting business class upgrades for as little as $125 to $150 for their one way trips home at the end of their tours.

So, I’m like, “HECK YEAH!” and head down to the Travel Office to find out how much a business class upgrade to Belgrade with run me.

I could totally swing $150 as a gift to myself for a tour well done… and I’m sure Serena wouldn’t bat an eye at the expense either.

Well… the Travel Office informed me the upgrade would cost $1,717.45.

Yeah… I… I just don’t… understand.

I. Will. Not. Cry.

Day 1030: Grayson Is a Lucky Boy, Indeed

While I was home on my R and R Grayson said the funniest thing while playing with me in the back yard.

So, we were in our backyard throwing around this gigantic Frisbee… the kind made of fabric with Styrofoam around the edges.  It’s designed to float more than it is anything else and Grayson and I were having a great time.

Now, one issue we have when playing in the back yard is the fence.  It’s a ‘Sandlot’ style fence.  Do you remember the movie ‘The Sandlot’?  Where the boys play baseball is a vacant lot next to this enormous fence… and whenever they hit a ball over the fence it is lost forever?  Well, that’s the kind of fence we have in Belgrade.

Well… Grayson and I are always careful about not getting too close to the fence when we play (although we have lost a couple of things over the edge… including a sandal… which I am still confused about…) anyway, on the day in question Grayson threw the Frisbee wild… it went high into the air and over the fence…

Grayson: “OH NO!”

Me: “Oh man!  There it goes!”

And then… it stopped.  The Frisbee stopped and just hung in the air for a second (a light wind had blow through the yard and stopped the momentum of the Frisbee… it just hung there floated on the other side of the fence.

Grayson and I held our breaths with no hope of ever seeing the Frisbee again… waiting for the wind to subside and drop the Frisbee into the pit of despair… but it didn’t it just hung in the air.  It give you an idea, Grayson and I had time to look at each other and exchange a “What in the world is going on glance” AND return our gaze to the Frisbee without it moving.

Then… just as all hope was lost, the wind didn’t die down… it picked up… and a huge gust of wind came through blowing the Frisbee straight up into the air and as it began to fall back down, it floated back over the fence, into our yard, and into my hands.

Grayson and I were just took a stood there looking at each other…  at the fence… the Frisbee… and each other again.  Then we both busted out laughing and Grayson said, “I can’t believe it!  The Frisbee came back!  I just can’t believe it!  I’m such a lucky boy!  I have a mommy, a daddy, a baby brother, and a helpful wind.  I am just so lucky!”

Day 1029: The Myth of Business Class

So… you might think with all of my travels that I’ve been enjoying the fruits of Business Class. Well, my confession might shock you. I’ve NEVER flown Business… EVER! I’ve only rocked economy.


On second thought, this confession probably isn’t to shocking… I’ve probably already told you this OR you just assumed it because I’m so cheap. (FYI: American Diplomats have to fund their own Business Class Upgrades when on official travel).


Anyway, although I haven’t flown Business Class I have racked up quite a few SkyMiles and I’ve only used them once to buy a ticket from Washington, DC to Charleston, SC… which barely put a dent in them.


So, the point of my story is that on my resent trip from Belgrade to Islamabad I was intent on breaking my economy streak… and from what I’ve heard; if there are open Business Class seats at the time of boarding its pretty easy to use your SkyMiles for upgrades… I had just never tired it… but, that is what I aimed to do!


My flight from Belgrade to Rome is way too short to care, only an hour and a half, so the upgrade would have been a waste of points, so I opted to wait until I got to Rome. And when I got to Rome, I was greeted by one of the friendliest and most helpful ticket/gate agents I have ever met… so I took his word when he told me the flight was full and there was no chance of an upgrade.


However… five and a half hours later, in Doha, things got pretty strange. Again, I had a very helpful gate agent who took my frequent flyer number and added me to the waitlist for upgrades. He told me I was at the top of the list and he seemed hopeful for my upgrade… but when it came time to board nothing happened.


When boarding began and it was my turn to present my ticket (to a different ticket agent) I said, “I’m on the waitlist for a Business Class upgrade.”


Ticket Taker: “Oh sir, this is a full flight, I don’t think there will be an upgrade available.”


Me: “Really? It’s full?”


Ticket Taker: “Yes, it is nearly full.”


Me: (Joking), “Nearly full isn’t full. There could still be a chance!”


The ticket taker laughed, “Yes sir, it is possible.”


And finally, when I was boarding I informed the stewardess greeting us that I was on the business class upgrade waitlist. She asked me to take my assigned seat and they would see if there was any space after boarding.


Nothing happened and me, being a roll with the punches kind of guy made an assumption, “There must not be any space in Business Class.”


And I wish my assumption was correct.


I was sitting at the very front of the economy section… not the bulkhead, but the second row. And about halfway through the flight the two stewardesses working the Business Class section opened the separation curtains and lowered a wall panel (I don’t know why) giving me an unobstructed view of the ENTIRE Business Class Section.


There was ONE person there.


And trust me here, I am not exaggerating. Yes, I do exaggerate from time to time, but not now… there was ONLY one person sitting in business class.


And there I was… in economy… fighting for foot space… heartbroken… dreaming of business class.


I think the time for relying on fate is over… Come July (and the end of my tour) I think I’ve earned my upgrade… and I’m might just have to pay for it.

Day 1028: Worst Part of My 19 Hours of Travel (Doha to Islamabad)

So yesterday… I may have been unfair picking on my Rome to Doha seat mates… at least after what happened from Doha to Islamabad.

When THE cardinal sin of flying is breached, worrying about people reclining their seats and opening their windows seem trivial.

When I fly I normally keep a bag at my feet.  I like to have my stuff close and I can’t stand having to get up to fish things out of the overhead bins.

However, since I had been flying all day and the Doha to Islamabad leg was only going to be 3.5 hours I decided to stow my bag overhead so I could have some extra leg room and relax.

Well… ummm… so I almost always request aisle seats because of my legs (I’m just shy of 6 foot)… but for some reason I had been given a middle seat for the last leg of my trip… smack dab in the middle of the wonder twins... who seemed to like the foot space in front of my seat more than their own.

Now, the first thing I should point out is that none of us had placed a bag underneath the seat in front of us, so there was plenty of foot space for all… so I am still kind of confused as to why they kept using mine. 

Secondly, out of the three of us… I was the tallest.

And yes, at one point they both had their feet in MY space. 

Now seriously, the problem is that they were tired.  They were curling up in their seats cattycorner (rather than straight ahead) and as they relaxed their feet would slowly drift under the seat in front of mine.  At least that’s what happened with the guy to my right.  Once he realized what he had done, he moved his legs and it didn’t happen again.

The guy to my left, however, just couldn’t take the hint and was oblivious to my non-verbal cues (kicks). 

Sure, he would move his feet… but it wouldn’t be long before they were back in my space.

Finally, almost halfway into the flight I thought he had himself under control… at least until I stretched and came into contact with BOTH of his feet… and he didn’t make any attempt to move them… so I turned to him and said, “Hey, I love playing footsy as much as the next guy, but this is my third flight today and I’m just not interested.  So, you’re going to need to straighten out so your feet are in front of your seat not mine.”

Yeah… I can be a jerk when I’m tired.  But seriously.  On an airplane, all you have is your seat and your foot space… it must be defended!  

Day 1027: Worst Part of My 19 Hours of Travel (Rome to Doha)

The people I had to sit next to… and behind.

Now… I know I’m going to sound petty here, but I sat next to folks with some of the most annoying in-flight habits… they drove me nuts!  And in my travels I’ve sat next to a lot of different people… some chatty, some smelly, some inconsiderate… but this time around I really scored the dream team.

From Rome to Doha (5.5 hours) I sat behind a guy who liked to recline, which doesn’t really bother me (normally)… but this guy would give me zero warning and drop his seat back with all of his weight, so fast that it would scared me.  Like someone was throwing a brick at my face that magically stopped inches from my nose. 

Although this only happened a couple times during our flight, it really peeved me when he launched back and actually hit my knees one of the times.  My legs had been crossed and he came straight down on top of them, “Ow!  Can you please give me a little warning in the future?”  He didn’t turn… he didn’t respond… he didn’t give me the universal blank stare that says, “I don’t speak your language, but I am sorry.”  He simple lifted his seat up for a second and then launched back again.  I wanted to slap him… but I didn’t.

Next to me was a very quite young woman who seemed perfectly normal until she started looking out the window compulsively.  Now, again… looking out the window is something people do on planes, so I am not complaining.  Sure, every time she opened her window, the glare of the light made ‘The Green Hornet’ unwatchable… but I was less annoyed by her compulsion then you might think.  Sure it was annoying at first… but then I found it funny.   Just about every 15 minutes (yes, I timed her) she would open her window and look out… only for about 30 to 60 seconds… and then close it again.  Honestly, we were up so high there was nothing to see, but she just kept doing it.  Open, Close, Open, Close.

I couldn’t help but imagine her internal monologue: “Good, we are still flying.”  “Is that cloud following us?”  “I shouldn’t have watched ‘Twilight Zone: The Movie’ before going on this flight.”

Day 1026: Best Part of My 19 Hours of Travel

The BEST part of my three flights has to be the layover in Doha.  Now, if you’ve flown through Doha before, you’re probably saying to yourself, “What’s so special about Doha… the airport feels like a bus depot.”

Well, this is true.  The Doha airport is a very small, bus station feeling kind of place.  BUT, it has some AMAZING food!  And frankly, food will ALWAYS trump décor. 

Now, this isn’t the first time I’ve raved about the food in the Doha airport and it certainly won’t be the last… But you have to be careful… if you ever end up in Doha, you don’t want to end up eating at the wrong place.

The first thing to keep in mind is that the Doha airport has two floors and they have a food court on each level.  I’ve never been to the food court on the first floor, so I don’t know what they have there, but if it’s anything like the upstairs food court it’s nothing to write home about… unless you really want to dine at an A&W or some other random fast food restaurant you’ve never heard of.

That said, take my advice and avoid the “food courts”. 

On the second floor, on the opposite end of the terminal from the food court you’ll find a cafeteria.  There isn’t really a sign and it’s around a corner, so you won’t actually see it right-a-way.  However, it is sandwiched between the Masque, Children’s play area, and Gate 16… so, if you follow the signs to one of those three, you’ll find the cafeteria I’m recommending.

And there you’ll find the best samosas, curries, and stews… and Mountain Dew.

Let me know if you ever check it out.

Day 1025: Back in the Saddle Again!

Well, I’m back in good-old Pakistan for my last 10 week sprint to the finish and apparently a lot has happened over here in the last three week.

Note to self: “In the future, I should probably read a newspaper while on R&R.” 

Lol, just kidding.

Anyway, despite all the worrying my friends and family have been doing over the last week or so, my trip back to Islamabad went incredible smooth… well, as smooth as three flights and 19 hours of travel can be.  

Compared to my routing last time (Belgrade-Istanbul-Abu Dhabi-Islamabad), which took MUCH longer on an incredibly uncomfortable airline, this trip was a dream come true!

This time around I was so intent on avoiding the airlines I used last time that I actually flew to Rome first, where I hooked up with Qatar Airways (a MUCH better airline) and flew to Doha and then Islamabad. 

The only disconcerting thing about my travels was the temperate of Islamabad when I arrived at 3:15am.  It was 80 degrees Fahrenheit outside. 

It’s going to be a REALLY hot 10 weeks.