redeyes.
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What business genius came up with the concept
of a redeye?
On the surface it seems all right…no matter how you slice it, you’re going to blow a day traveling from the west coast to the east coast. Why not fly overnight so you can arrive bright and early the next morning and salvage the day? Yeah, right. So if you’re one of those people who can actually sleep on a plane, good for you. But the only thing worse than being crammed into a middle seat on a cross-country flight is trying to sleep while crammed into a middle seat on a cross-country flight. When you first board a redeye, there’s a little bit more traveler’s camaraderie than usual – hee hee, look at us, we’re going to sleep on a plane! If you’re returning home to the east coast, you’re probably also a bit punch-drunk because it’s so far after your regular bedtime. But as soon as they dim the lights and you get off the ground, the fantasy that you’re actually going to get some decent shuteye vanishes like a sugar-free cheesecake at a Jenny Craig convention. Five hours later you stumble off the plane knowing you’re going to be dead tired all of today and probably most of tomorrow and this was a really dumb idea. Redeyes always make me think back to high-school band trips, riding back on the bus late at night after football games in some god-awful far-away corner of the state, trying to sleep, just wishing we’d get home. And you don’t feel much like ridin’, you just wish the trip was through…hey, screw you, Bob, I’ll bet you at least had a bunk in that tour bus. I guess I’m lucky…I travel to the west coast for work occasionally, and they’ll let me stay over if I want. In the past that was what I usually did, but now that I’m married and have a dog, the pressure’s on to get home as soon as possible. (sigh…) Pass me my blindfold… |