Journey Home

I actually flew home on Sunday night, but haven't had a chance to write about it yet.

I have a strong dislike of flying, that I've pretty much had forever. I tend to be slightly better when I fly with my boyfriend, so I arranged this flight so I could fly with him, despite the facts that it was on a more expensive airline that I don't really like and that it was a night flight (which I also don't like). Being the anxious person I am I checked with him a gazillion times that this was the right flight, that we could sit next to each other, that we were going to be in the same class etc.

Anyway, come check-in time we realised that he was in business class, and I was in economy (I always travel economy, I don't see the point in wasting money. He pretty much always travels economy too, but sometimes his mum does something weird like this and puts him in business. He has a tonne of air miles so often he can get upgraded for next to nothing). I was not at all pleased about this and got really angry at him. I was also upset that there'd been a last minute change to plans (and I don't like change). I know this is just me being silly, but I did also feel like his mother was playing a "I'm better than you because my family flies business" game with me (she does do that kind of thing).

I was really upset about it, and he was also pretty upset and offered me the business seat a few times. (But, as I pointed out, he would have chosen this plane etc anyway, so it wasn't like he was making a huge sacrifice. I was making a big sacrifice to get to a goal (sitting next to him) which didn't end up happening. He also didn't really think it was his fault because his mum had booked the flight). I talked to my mum about the whole thing on the way to the airport, and she talked some sense into me. I did feel a bit better about it after that, and the plane was also relatively empty (and I had an extra seat next to me), which meant that he was able to come back and sit with me for parts of the flight, which was nice. In some ways, it was almost nicer to have a free seat next to me than to have him there for the whole flight, just because I was asleep for a lot of it, so the extra space was nice. (Still would have preferred him there, but I guess that was a silver lining!)

More importantly, I also realised that I'm relatively calm (or that I can be relatively calm) when I'm on the plane. I think that my biggest issue with planes is psyching myself out before I get on them, and worrying before I get on them. I'm flying back to the US in a week and a half, so I'm going to see if I can use this new knowledge to make the flight a little more pleasant for myself!

How would other people handle the economy/business class situation?

PS Feel free to leave a comment just to say hi!