All My Bags Are Packed

A few weeks ago I flew to Washington DC, the first time I've flown in well over a decade, and it was great. A quarter gram of Xanax (no more than I would take on an average stressful day) and I was casually stretched out across three seats, listening to music on my phone and munching on free potato chips. Not once did I check to make sure that the wings were still firmly attached to the plane. Somehow I've overcome the worst of my fear of flying. I've known of other bad fliers who have overcome their fear of flying later in life after avoiding it for a period of years. Maybe it's just the realization that my death is closer than it ever has been before and that it's not likely to be from a plane crash.

Seat that I will not have.

Of course, stretching out across three seats requires three seats to stretch out on. On the way up to DC I was fortunate enough to have the whole row to myself and on the way back I was in first class. I will be in neither of those situations on my flight to and from England. I paid extra to pick my seats ahead of time and although I won't be sandwiched in between two people, it will definitely not be as comfortable as I was on the DC trip. For the trip to England I chose the very back row by the window. I read on "Seat Guru" that this seat had extra leg room and the drawing of the seating layout looked like there was a lot of space between the seat and the window. However, since then I saw a photo of the seat and it looked like it was a tight fit, I didn't see any extra leg room. I'm hoping that I won't be completely miserable, trapped in a window seat for eight and a half hours next to someone who is trying to sleep despite my having to get up a dozen times during the trip. The trip back should be more comfortable, I chose the aisle seat in the first economy class row behind a bulkhead. According to Seat Guru it has extra leg room and there is no one in front of me and I won't be trapped in my seat since I'm on the aisle. My main hope now is that I won't die of boredom during the nine hours I will be in that tube in the sky.