Spiderwebs on a Plane

This week, while returning from yet another business trip, I realized it was the first night flight I had been on since Brazil. And, as I browsed through my mp3 player's directories, I realized I still have No Doubt's "Tragic Kingdom" onboard - and inspiration for my next post hit me.

Before actually living in Brazil, I spent a good amount of time flying back and forth - roughly 2 weeks here, 2 weeks there, repeat, over and over, for 9 months. I estimate at least 12 trips in 2004 x 10 hours each x 2 (round-trip) = 240 hours = 10 days in the air. As you can imagine, I racked up some serious frequent flier miles - by 2005, I reached "Executive Platinum" status on American, their highest rewards level.

There are a few flight options from NJ to Sao Paulo. Flying direct, overnight, there was a Continental flight out of Newark and a American flight out of JFK. The flights out of Newark were usually 767s, and the rest were 777s. Takeoff time was around 11pm, and arrival at around 6-8am, depending on the time of year. If you wanted to travel during the day, the best bet was early morning on American out of Newark, stopover in Miami, then onto Brazil. This put you on the ground in Sao Paulo by about 10pm. There is also a direct American flight out of Dallas I took a few times during business trips to the West coast. I even once took a Japan Airlines flight out of JFK. This was a direct flight to Sao Paulo, but the plane was just stopping over - most of the passengers already on the plane were Japanese who had just flown the 12+ hours from Tokyo - so the air onboard was a bit stale, to be kind. The fish-jelly-rolls for breakfast didn't help matters either.

The flight from NJ to Sao Paulo is about 9-10 hours and luckily my company has a policy allowing business class for any flight over 6 hours. I preferred the 777's over the 767 for seat comfort and roominess, but the 767 had the advantage in terms of entertainment. On the 767s, each BC seat would receive its own portable DVD player with an album of about 20 DVDs - which included a well-rounded selection of just-out-of-the-theater first runs, old classics, and even TV series like the Sopranos or Cheers. I remember watching "Animal House" one night and laughing hysterically. I watched The Godfather I, II, and most of III on one flight. On the 767, you could watch movies all night, but on the 777 you were limited to just one-time through on whichever movie you picked from the in-flight selection.

The in-flight routine brought comfort to me, and I got very comfortable with it. Knowing what to expect, nearly minute by minute, took a little of the anxiety of the long flight away.

Here's how a typically flight might go, either to or from Brazil:

10:30 - Pre-Board, Flight attendants hand out choice of orange juice, champagne, or water (usually got the water), choice of newspapers (never got 'em - too hard to fold), menu
11:00pm - Take off
11:20pm - Plane leveling off at 35,000ft.
11:25pm - Flight attendants take dinner order - I would usually get the steak, but sometimes the pasta if I was in the mood.
11:40pm - Flight attendants hand out Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones. (These were great).
11:45pm - Warm nuts and wine. (I never thought about warming nuts before serving, but a few seconds in the microwave makes a difference).
12:00am - Hot towels, followed by linens for the tray table
12:00am - Around this time, the in-flight movies would start. I saw more movies in these 9 months than I have in the past 5 years. "Lost in Translation", "City of God" (not the Val Kilmer one), and this Japanese movie with subtitles that I can't remember the name of stand out as a few good ones.
12:10am - Fresh seafood course - cold crab, salmon meat
12:20am - Salad course
12:30am - Dinner
12:45am - Dessert - my favorite was the sundaes with whipped cream and butterscotch or caramel topping. I felt bad for the people in the first few rows of coach who had to smell all of this and had to be satisfied with the "Famous Amos" cookies or whatever they had.
1:00am - Clearing away the dinner plates and linens, and giving out bottles of water.

That was the last service from the Flight Attendants until breakfast. At that point, I'd just finish watching the movie. After the movie, I'd usually surf the in-flight music options. I listened to a lot of jazz and classical music - I even bought a few CDs of some jazz artists I heard onboard.

Or, I would fire up my mp3 player. Then, like now, my mp3 player carried my standard travelling albums:
- Pink Floyd, "Wish You Were Here" and/or "Dark Side of the Moon"
- a few _Opie_and_Anthony shows
- Shades Apart, "Save It"
- No Doubt, "Tragic Kingdom"
- Other random albums or songs


The album that got the most play was "Tragic Kingdom". I played it so much, it has become forever ingrained in my memory as the soundtrack of my flights to and from Brazil. Hearing the opening drum break and horn line of "Spiderwebs" (first song on the album) places me right back into the over sized seat of business class on an American Airlines jumbo. I became a bit superstitious about this album being on my mp3 player and the supernatural effects it has upon the safe passage of my flight. So, now it has become a standard on my mp3 player - even if I don't listen to it at all during the flight, just having it there brings good luck.

Between about 1am and around 5am, I generally would try to sleep, but I never got much "Quality" sleeptime. Mostly, I channel-surfed the inflight audio selections until it repeated (about a 2 hour frequency), then I might drift into a light nap. I can still hear that hollow whirring kind-of sound of the world rushing by at 500mph. The flight attendants would usually be reading or just chatting.

By 5:00am or so, they'd wake us up for breakfast. I usually just got a bagel and some fruit.
6:30 - begin decent
7:00am - landing and onto the whole customs routine (I'll save that for another post).

Flying business class internationally meant free use of the airline "lounges". My vote for best American Airlines club is Miami, followed by Sao Paulo. All the lounges offer unlimited booze and snacks. The Miami one has a tropical theme, and the one in Sao Paulo became my respite from the chaos after going through customs and the last of Brazil for another trip. The one in JFK is just standard, and it was there I usually felt a little depressed thinking about the long trip ahead and about being away from home for the next few weeks, so I have mixed emotions about that place.

The flight was indeed long (like this post), but the routine made it more bearable. Actually, I miss the adventure of the flights. Each flight meant I was heading to another few weeks of discovering Brazil, and discovering a bit about myself too.

Sao Paulo from window of 777: