I’m at CDG in Paris, about to depart for LHR in London, and the AirFrance plane I’ll be flying in is one of the new Airbus A380s. The plane was over-sold, so there are no windows — a low-percentage shot anyway with a plane that flies 550 or so people at a time. Got a middle in row 91 (of 94), on the upper deck.
The person at the ticket counter said they like to fly these short-hauls so the pilots “get practice.”
Well, we know they work in theory, no?
[Later…] Got in fine. The plane leaves late, but arrives on time. It’s like flying in a building. Although I missed my customary window seat, I did get to enjoy three different views, from three cameras: one underneath, one on the nose, and one looking forward from the tail. (That one produced the picture above, on approach to London.) Also had a fun conversation with a gentleman from the Isle of Man — a place about which I learned a good deal in a short time, with the help of interactive maps on the seat-back display in front of me.
Since then I’ve been on three trains, finally arriving in Suffolk for meetings that will run the next four days.
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