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■乘搭長途飛機，難免容易讓人覺得腰酸骨痛。資料圖片
Fai
Two weeks ago, my work took me to New Orleans for a conference. The conference went extremely well, but the trip over there was grueling(adj.折磨人的).
Regardless of the direction one chooses to fly, whether eastwards or westwards, it would take more than 24 hours to go from H.K to New Orleans. My flight two weeks ago took me 25 hours to go there, and 27 hours back. Flying long-distance is never fun, and only seems to get harder as I get older.
It has not always been like that. In my first cross-Pacific flight to New York, it was tiring, but the expectation of going to a new country filled me with excitement. I could hardly sit back on the plane. Everything was new to me: the reading lamp above my head, the tray table in front of me, the seat that can be tilted back(v.phr.往後靠), and the button with which I could summon the stewardesses to my side on whim. I tried out all these gadgets and buttons, before I settled down to read a book. But my attention was drawn to the endless stretch of clouds outside my window. I stared at them for a long time. Even when it became too dark outside the plane for me to see anything, I still peered at the darkness outside, trying to imagine what it would be like when I landed in New York.
Since then, I have flown many times. The excitement of the first flight wore off gradually. I stopped looking out of the window. In fact, I much prefer sitting next to the aisle(n.通道)rather than by the window so that I do not have to climb over other passengers when I want to stand up and stretch my legs. Not all flights are the same, I realized. The length of the flight, the manners of the stewards and stewardesses, the food that is served, the time of departure and arrival, and the model of the plane all combine to affect the comfort of the trip. As I got picky with the airlines, the romance of flying was lost on me.
Because I had a tight budget this time, I took a flight that made two stopovers at Seoul and Los Angeles. From experience, I knew that I should get as much sleep as possible，which I did for a while. With the engine humming in the background, I dozed off before the plane left the airport. Even when I was in dreamland, however, I could feel the plane rising slowly in the air and hear the stewardesses pushing the cart up and down the aisle to serve drinks. I opened my eyes, and was not able to sleep for another wink after that. There were films to watch, and food to eat, and I arrived at the destination many hours later a bloated and tired man.
The return trip 6 days later was different but no better. I was tired and hungry. The plane laid over at Seoul at about 3 in the morning. I walked around the airport, trying to loosen up my stiff muscles. There were a few passengers around, and they were just like me. Exhausted, they dragged their feet as they walked. I imagined that they were also looking for something to eat. But nothing was open. Lights had been dimmed in many places of the colossal(adj.巨大的)terminal. Yet, I kept walking, my footsteps reverberating(v.回響)in the eerily empty hall.
In the end, I sat down. Mechanically, I took off my shoes, swung my feet up on one end of a bench and laid down my backpack on the other. I hardly knew what I was doing as I put my head down on the backpack and rearranged myself into a comfortable position. All at once, I felt asleep. When I opened my eyes again, the hall was filled of people. There was a long line of people waiting at the gate. I joined them to board the plane for the last stretch of my trip. ■kingfaitam@gmail.com
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