Yeah, this is the sucky bit

[drakyndra]

So, today in the mail I got a bunch of ~informative pamphlets~ from the travel agency whatsit for The Egypt Trip.

They were mostly pretty generic stuff - general info on Egypt and Jordan and insurance etc. - but there's also an itinerary for the flights. (Incidentally? Not Qantas. Which is vaguely comforting, what with the bad publicity they've been getting recently)

And all I have to say is this: Ouch.

Seven and a half hours. Then a three hour stopover. Then another 10 hours and 45 minutes.

And I cannot sleep on planes.

Oh, that's gonna hurt.

Comments

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

I do hope Mum reads this comment.

Your flights were not fun?

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Do you mean in terms of people, or airlines?

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Singapore Airlines. I don't know anything about them, but I'm told they have a good reputation.

[frabjously.livejournal.com]

My advice is to check-in online (if you can) and get one of the seats in the first row with a lot of leg room, or see if you can get two seats to yourself depending on how full the flight is.

I did a 20 hour flight (maybe more?) with an hour stopover, and that stopover was a freaking Godsend.

[frabjously.livejournal.com]

Oh and if you can't get those seats, go for the aisles.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Well, the flight's still over 5 months away, so I suspect I'll have a while before I have to get into the seating nitty gritty.

And aisle seats are good for giving the legs a stretch, but not so much when you need something to lean on and sleep. I'd love a spare seat to curl up and sleep on, but dunno how viable that would be.

[ice-feather.livejournal.com]

The longest I've spent on a plane was just under seven hours from London to New York, and that was enough.

I fear I'll never get to see places like Japan or Australia simply because the long flights put me off that much.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

The longest I've spent - so far, anyway - would be the nine hours to Thailand. Which was not fun, but made even worse by leaving after midnight.

At least the Egypt flight leaves at a more respectable time.

/looking for silver lining.

I hate long flights, but not so much to avoid going places.

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

Blimey, that's quite a jaunt.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Uh-huh.

[ephant.livejournal.com]

I did 14hour flight, 10 hour stop-over (in which I did not sleep at all because I was too stressed), 5 hour flight, 1 hour stop, 3 hour flight. OH GOD IT WAS AWFUL. The final flight was the only one on which I slept - I think knowing that it was my last flight and that I didn't have to worry about any (more) delays or cancellations allowed me to relax enough to get some sleep. then I had to wake up again...

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Oh God, that sounds appalling. Where on Earth were you headed for that?

[ephant.livejournal.com]

Miami.

And I've just decided that I'm going back next year but this time I'm going to find my own flights instead of getting a stupid travel agent to do it for me. I need an airline that flies straight from LAX to Miami!!

[fireflyfaery.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain.

I also discovered the magic answer : red wine! Or whatever alcohol makes you sleep. Even if you don't sleep-sleep, it's a lot closer to the real thing than you'd get without it. Also, those face masks look stupid, but if the light sets you off they make an amazing difference. And if you can put up with ear plugs, same deal. You feel like an idiot ... but you sleep that much more.

[drakyndra.livejournal.com]

Interestingly enough, my main problem is the fact that I'm in a seated position - unless I can lie down (or at least flop my head down against something) - I just get tired and sore.