Behind the Curtain
You know from my ABOUT page that traveling is a passion of mine, and in mid-October I am flying to Quito, Ecuador to serve on a school accreditation team. From there I’m going to the Galapagos Islands so I am really looking forward to that experience and hope that Keeping Faith will be available on Amazon when I return. You’ll be the first to know because it will be advertised right here on the web site.
I love traveling, but I don’t love flying although I have logged more than 40,000 miles on planes this year. One reason I probably don’t enjoy the going and coming is because I fly economy which means I sit in the “no class section” of the plane. Not only am I packed in like a salted sardine, the food is bad, the drinks are slow arriving and the people next to me are usually not any happier about being in this part of the plane as I am.
I know the little kids aren’t because they are crying, drooling and otherwise fretting. I want to join them, but I know others would not be as patient with me. But at least now I have acquired so many points that I have an elite status which means I can now sit in rows where I can see people in first class. They are just different you know–a little more composed, relaxed, smug.
On a recent trip from Peru I had my first experience actually sitting in that section because my friend Gayle, who is a classy gal, pulled some strings or used points or something for me to sit with her. The only problem was because of the train ride to and from Machu Picchu, coupled with the high altitude in Cusco and the food poisoning in Lima, I was left a bit spent and unable to enjoy the amenities as much as I know I could on another occasion.
Also, although I will be eternally grateful to my friend, I have curmudgeon tendencies so I kept thinking, why couldn’t this pleasure been used on my almost 14 hour trip from Houston to Tokyo or on the long, boring trips to Europe or Egypt. Destinations in South America don’t usually require the long hours or cause the dreaded jet lag that others do. But it was, nonetheless, long enough to get me accustomed to a better mode of transport, and I will have a difficult time returning to my tiny seat BEHIND THE CURTAIN.
Paragraphs on Padre 
Maybe if you balled and squalled you could get bumped into first class! Recently I was afforded a seat in the “upper class section” and I took full advantage of the situation. I love having someone check my glass to see if I’m in need of a refill on my beverage without me having to ask.
Hey, I want you to know that your blog is now becoming a habit. I checked yesterday and nothing…I was beginning to go thru withdrawal. I’m glad you’ve been able to add something today or else I might have to give you a call.
You are the classy one now, Ms Author. You will be a famous fiction book writer soon and they will beg you to sit in first class with them. OR maybe you will be able to always afford a first class ticket to guarantee that seat. Every time I think I have figured out the latest way to get upgraded, they change the rules. You have more miles than me this year so you will have to educate me on how to stay out of the “couch” section with those “coaches.”