Air travel is rarely a pleasurable experience for me. I especially dread long flights. The idea of visiting Bangladesh excites me, but the number of hours to be spent inside an aircraft dampens my spirits.
I am not that tall but even so, my 5'6" body frame cannot sit comfortably in an airplane seat. I turn and twitch during the entire duration of a flight, and wonder if plane seats are becoming smaller. I eye other passengers and feel a pang of envy -- many people enjoy long stretches of sleep on long flights, but I never can.
My in-flight agony has doubled, or perhaps tripled, in the last two years. Flying in the air with a two-year-old is anything but enjoyable. My husband, who is my daughter's favorite parent, suffers endlessly when we travel. Watching his in-flight plight stresses me out even more.
My toddler almost goes on a hunger strike when she is traveling. We returned completely untouched trays of meals to air hostesses in the past. When my child is awake she does not let us eat. For some unknown reason, I am almost always hungry when I am in the air. Food makes me happy when I am flying, it also gives a sleepless passenger like me a reason to keep herself busy for some time. But with a wide awake toddler at your side, you can only eat peacefully in your dream.
I check and re-check my watch to see the number of hours traveled and still left to be traveled. I also check my flight status on the in-flight entertainment system, which otherwise does not appeal to me. On most occasions, my headset lies unopened during a flight, for I do not enjoy watching movies or listening to music when air-traveling. But to keep myself busy I sometimes peek into the screens of fellow passengers! I just watch what they watch on their screens.
When inside smaller airplanes that only take domestic routes, I feel claustrophobic, which is worse than spending sleepless hours in the air. So yes, air travel is anything but pleasurable for people like me. I wish a day comes when airplanes fly faster than now and reduce the agonies of passengers for whom flying is a torture.
Date of publication in The Daily Star: Dec. 30, 2014
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