This was my first time flying Business Elite on an overseas flight and it blows coach away. Nice electric recliners with individual TVs, a 4 or 5 course meal, pillows with real stuffing inside, and blankets thicker than a piece of paper. Even some nice little foot warmer socks. *** We had 4 seats in the center section, Ryan and Kyle sat in front of Gina and myself. Ryan, having just done this in the spring with Gina's mom, was the expert and immediately set about showing Kyle how to play Tetris and other video games on the little TVs. *** After dinner the lights were turned down in the plane and we tried to get to sleep. The "gentleman" immediately behind me had other plans... he started sneezing and kept it up for longer than I've ever heard anyone sneeze. It was so bad the flight attendants came to him to make sure he was ok. Between sneezes he managed to explain he was allergic to sugar and accused the flight attendants of putting sugar in his tea even though he explicitly said he did not want any. The sneezes eventually subsided and we tried to go to sleep again. *** Not 15 minutes later, sir sneeze-a-lot started making a new sound... the unmistakable sound of someone barfing into an air sick bag. Just like his sneezing, he kept this up for a long time. The flight attendant brought him an "extra large" (her words) air sick bag. I did not turn around but I'm picturing in my head a big white garbage bag. After numerous heaves, sir barf-a-lot finally stopped (or died, I'm not sure which). *** Ahhh, finally time to get some sleep. Bump. Bump. Bump-bump-bump. From the PA... "This is the flight crew. We've hit some choppy air...". Said choppy air lasted for about the next 3 hours. At one point it got worse and in my half asleep stupor I vaguely recall them telling the flight attendants to take their jump seats. It did finally subside and that was about the time the flight attendants came around to wake us for breakfast. (which was much better than dinner). *** We landed almost a full hour early at 8:45 AM (all the bumping around must have been part of a serious tail wind) and met up with Mike. After a 10 minute study in packing logistics to fit 4 sizeable suitcases and 5 people into 1 Thunderbird, we headed off to Mike and Amanda's home in the small village of Schrollbach. Schrollbach was about an 1:15 minute drive from the airport. In my half-awake stupor, I vaguely remember seeing the speedometer at 105 (or higher) and thinking "great, after all this we are going to die on the way to his house". *** Now you would think this was enough of a day but alas... thanks to the miracles of time zones, it was only 10:30 in the morning! We settled in a bit and Gina and I took a brief nap (since neither of us were able to sleep on the plane) while Mike went to pick up the rental van.
