May 04 2007
Ms. Q Is Back In Cape Town
[Friday April 27, 2007]
I wake up.
I’m flying first class on British Airways and it’s maybe 7am in Cape Town.
I feel rested if a bit grubby and begin getting ready for the day – first class air travel style:
- Take off eyeshade
- Unbuckle seatbelt.
- Remove earplug.
- Search for other earplug
- Slide out of the fully reclined seat
- Hit the bathroom to beat the rush.
- Plaster down Serious Airplane Hair.
- Return to first class pod.
- Fold up bedding.
- Push various buttons to make the seat upright.
- Say YES to offer of coffee (Milk and sugar? Just a little milk, please.)
- Pull out table.
I enjoy coffee and a fruit plate.
I am then presented with a 3-protein breakfast:
Eggs, bacon and sausage.
I thought that the bacon was ham but I noticed that others called it bacon. There’s Canadian bacon, American bacon and now…British bacon.
I don’t generally eat such a big meal first thing in the morning or such an artery-clogging one. I ate the eggs, the fungus and fruit and the crust-less toast.
I pull up the window and see that it’s raining. The skies are gray and smudgy.
I watch as we skim along the runway and land.
As a first class passenger, I’m one of the first to walk down the portable covered stairway and out into the rain.
A yellow shuttle bus, passport check, luggage, customs and I’m out!
Laverne and I spot each other, hug and laugh at how I’m back again so soon.
We head out into the rain where Shirley is waiting in her car.
I’m soon in familiar territory: the backseat.
I’ll be staying with Laverne and Shirley for 2 weeks. Yes, they are putting me up. For fourteen (14!!) days.
Now these are friends!
It’s great to be back.
I tell them, “Thanks for putting up with me.”
I love the pictures of the food throughout the trip. Do you get any “looks” when you pull out the camera before you start eating?
Jake: I didn’t get any looks in first class. Maybe they figure it’s an “Asian thing” hahahah! I get looks in the bathroom but am getting a bit used to being slightly embarrassed. I figure I’ll stop being embarrassed at some point.
That food looks pretty good
Do you always fly first class??
Not too shabby … for airplane food.
British bacon! I remember having some at the B&B we stayed at in London that was so salty, I could just smell the salt coming off the plate! I don’t even want to think what that did to my blood pressure while I was there.
Gregg: No, I don’t always fly first class – it took a whole lotta economy class flying to get me my “free” first class tickets! One of the benefits of being on the road all the time for my job.
Of course all this flying means that I am not home that much.
Shane: Yup, not that shabby for airline food. I’ve had better food in restaurants but I can’t same the same about on an airplane!
ack: I had a bit of that bacon but it wasn’t as salty as you described. The tasted the sausage and it was very bland. I avoid fatty foods and the sausage was weird – think spackling paste!