Monday, May 19, 2008

Football, flying and the feeling of irony...

Excuse the bad alliteration in the subject line, but its for want of a better phrase...

21st May, 2008, the biggest football match of this season in Europe will unfold.
Mancheter United take on Chelsea FC.

Thats tomorrow.

The 2 best English teams of today will fight out the highest trophy in Europe. Its already assured that an English club will be the Champion of the continent.
And the irony is - the English national side didnt even qualify for the EURO 2008 happening this June.

My Personal irony:
As I travel between 2 of the greatest footballing cities in the world, flying from Lisbon to Madrid (and the next day back to Stuttgart), the feeling of void, of having missed one of the best footballing actions ever, will stay for quite some time.

I wish they had live TV on flights :P

Saturday, May 17, 2008

What I now know about flying


- That a 3 hour flight journey is as bad as a 10 hour one, if you don't have something proper to read on the way, and/or you end up in a seat beside a 120 kg fella who conveniently spills over adjacent arm-rests.

- That 'Catcher in the Rye' is different, and good! Probably worth the accolades it has got, but it makes you feel like strangling that guy Holden Caulfield for being so irritating. (but thats what the author wanted I guess)

- That Air France stewardesses will go out of their way to freak you out (and always more than once) if you happen to get one of those seats at the Emergency Door.
"Sir, I have to ask you AGAIN - you must jock open this Emergency door if and when I tell u so. Is it FINE with you? (or should I ask some other ignorant fool to take your place?)"

- That the Emergency Door seats do have their latent advantages. There is so much leg room, you can almost tap dance there! (ok, that was a bit over the top, but you get the drift...)

- That Air France meals are actually decent, but if your crossiant topples out of your tray and rolls over to the bottom of the seat behind (and below the shoes of the guy sitting there), its actually not good news.

- That the laws of Physics do not work inside aircrafts compartments. (Murphy's laws do, though). So, no, the crossiant will NOT roll back to your feet when the plane actually applies its landing breaks.

- That having a connnection at Paris - Charles De Gaulle, and catching it smoothly is equivalent to expecting the Deccan (Dis)chargers reach the semifinals of the IPL.

- That if you happen to be dropped off at a CDG terminal other than your connecting one, then you could might as well say adeiu to your flight if it leaves in less than 45 mins. (forget asking why on earth did the airline offer you this impossible connection anyway)



- That Air France does have Boeing aircraft too on its fleet. 'French connection' doesn't come in way of free-market dynamics. (My solitary MBA gyaan for today. No such observations anymore)

- That at 2200 hours, due to the low flight traffic, the quick-as-ever ground handling staff at Lisbon airport will deliver your baggage to the conveyer belt in record time. In just less than 32 minutes. Really.

- That having an actually decent flight is not half as interesting as pretending it was lousy and cribbing about it online. :)