The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire

Part 2b – the second part of Part 2.  January 25 and 26, 2015 (both in daylight)

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Like I said in the first part of Part 2, flying is 98% boredom.  I wish to keep you in that loop.

 

When last we met, I was folding up my Acer Aspire One mini laptop just after dropping it on the men’s room floor of Dulles airport (I did not tell you that before) in preparation for boarding Emirates flight 232 on a relatively new Boeing 777-300 headed for Dubai.  Just then a guy in and Emirates suit came to those of us waiting in our airport Eames chairs.   He was friendly, hefting bags that looked too heavy and weighing most he touched.  All were sent away but one to be checked in with the you-may-never-see-your-bag-(intact)-again gods.

My heart quickened and my blood pressure rose.  We were next in the line.  He was standing fewer than three feet away! The woman on our right had just forfeited her bag to the gods.  She may never see it whole again.  The Chinese couple across from us did the same.  They may never see one of theirs again either, but communication between them and the Emirates guy was via a smart phone translator.  So, who knows?

 

What if our brand new, never-been-used-before, 3.8 pound IT “lightest bag ever” (not counting Charlie Corso’s Stop and Shop gym bag) carry-on bags look too heavy now that they are stuffed?  Worse yet, what if they are too heavy?  What to say?  What to plead?  What to jettison?  Is a spare pair of light shoes that important if it rains?  Do we really need toothpaste and deodorant?  Is it time to rush to the restrooms with bags in tow before he points at us and motions with his scale?  No, the woman next to us tried that and got caught.  Time to pray?  Perhaps, but to whom in this international setting?  Who will we offend?  Time to look old and dumb?  We hope that will work, and we look away.  Eye contact can be bad, or is that good in a case like this.

Now that we are in the air with our carry-ons safely stowed overhead and my blood pressure back down, I have some news.  Every seat on this plane has a TV on the seatback in front of it.  The miracles of modern science and technology never cease to amaze.  The seats are comfy with plenty of leg room.  Sandy has an aisle seat and I have one next to the window - with an empty seat between us to keep us from fighting.   And, the mad scientists/technologists have come up with yet another confusing way (“ICE”) to make it hard to navigate the movie listings.  But Sandy showed me how.

According to this map, it appears to be nighttime in some of the Empire (I don’t believe it) but it’s daylight in this part as it should be – it really is.

We passed Madison just a short time ago but someone seems to have moved it to Maine. 

And we can already see our destination.  Look…

Here’s a simulated real time view from the cockpit, right now.

Here’s a genuine real time view from the nose camera, right now.

Here is simulated real time view over the right wing, right now, 

and a genuine real time view over the right wing, right now.  

For a fabulous prize, can you tell which is which?

Here is a genuine simulated real time view of where we have been (the solid line)…

…and where we are going (the dotted line).  And you thought it was hard to be a pilot.

And another view of us from the International Space Station.

And here’s the inside of the plane where the sun has obviously set and stars blanket the ceiling.

And here is a view or two looking out our window of those funny Dubai manmade islands that look like palm trees.  Unfortunately there seems to have been a big sandstorm that covered them up.  Use your imagination.

How wonderful to be able to see everything in daylight in Betty’s Empire where the sun never sets.

Terry and Sandy