Airborne anecdotes
I've just returned from a few days in South Australia. On our flights, a couple of quirky things worth sharing happened.
Perth-Adelaide: About halfway through the flight, an air-hostess announced that to pass the time, we, i.e. those passengers who wished to take part, could play a game. (Aside: Perth to Adelaide is about a 2.5 to 3-hour flight, so after the safety drill, the pilot's announcements, and the food trolley lumbering up and down the aisle, there isn't oodles of time to pass. Our flight had, however, been delayed for an hour, so maybe the air-hostess realised that the strung-out passengers would appreciate a pleasant distraction.)
Back to the game. The hostess announced that the names of five animals would be given, for which passengers would have to come up with the collective nouns. And, there would be a prize for the first person to get five correct answers. Soon, air-come-game-hostesses were distributing scraps of paper with the hand-written names of the five animals. These animals were: crows, rats, owls, wolves and insects (a broad grouping, but what the heck).
Before long, passengers were busily conferring -- sometimes across the aisle -- and scribbling on their pieces of paper. One passenger was even seen flicking through his pocket dictionary! When participants thought they had five correct answers, rather than raise their hands (old-school), they pressed the game-hostess call button, at which point the hostess would check their guesses, circle the incorrect answers (usually necessary) and furtively write a clue to help them get the correct answer. This buzz of airborne gaming went on for about half-an-hour.
The prize, shared between three passenger 'teams', was an item from the menu. Hardly the lofty loot that I'd dreamt of, but the chocolate bar my wife and I each ate was just the sugar-hit we needed to get through the final half-hour of the flight.
Oh ... and the five collective nouns? How about an online version of the game? I'll give a prize to the first person with five correct answers. No new-school online resources allowed (we've got to slightly simulate the conditions of being on board an aeroplane).
Second quirky incident: Adelaide-Perth flight: A young guy, who appeared to be in his twenties, decided that his white bath robe / dressing gown was suitable kit for flying in. I thought this was the stuff of buck's night's antics or low-grade TV comedies, but this guy was surrounded neither by raucous mates nor a TV crew. He was on is own. As a flight-crew member checked his boarding pass, I heard him mutter something about wanting to sleep on the flight.
On-board, smiles, chuckles and quizzical looks could be seen on passengers' faces as our white-robed friend made his way to and from the toilet. Oh, and in case you're wondering, he wore the robe over his normal clothing.
Perth-Adelaide: About halfway through the flight, an air-hostess announced that to pass the time, we, i.e. those passengers who wished to take part, could play a game. (Aside: Perth to Adelaide is about a 2.5 to 3-hour flight, so after the safety drill, the pilot's announcements, and the food trolley lumbering up and down the aisle, there isn't oodles of time to pass. Our flight had, however, been delayed for an hour, so maybe the air-hostess realised that the strung-out passengers would appreciate a pleasant distraction.)
Back to the game. The hostess announced that the names of five animals would be given, for which passengers would have to come up with the collective nouns. And, there would be a prize for the first person to get five correct answers. Soon, air-come-game-hostesses were distributing scraps of paper with the hand-written names of the five animals. These animals were: crows, rats, owls, wolves and insects (a broad grouping, but what the heck).
Before long, passengers were busily conferring -- sometimes across the aisle -- and scribbling on their pieces of paper. One passenger was even seen flicking through his pocket dictionary! When participants thought they had five correct answers, rather than raise their hands (old-school), they pressed the game-hostess call button, at which point the hostess would check their guesses, circle the incorrect answers (usually necessary) and furtively write a clue to help them get the correct answer. This buzz of airborne gaming went on for about half-an-hour.
The prize, shared between three passenger 'teams', was an item from the menu. Hardly the lofty loot that I'd dreamt of, but the chocolate bar my wife and I each ate was just the sugar-hit we needed to get through the final half-hour of the flight.
Oh ... and the five collective nouns? How about an online version of the game? I'll give a prize to the first person with five correct answers. No new-school online resources allowed (we've got to slightly simulate the conditions of being on board an aeroplane).
Second quirky incident: Adelaide-Perth flight: A young guy, who appeared to be in his twenties, decided that his white bath robe / dressing gown was suitable kit for flying in. I thought this was the stuff of buck's night's antics or low-grade TV comedies, but this guy was surrounded neither by raucous mates nor a TV crew. He was on is own. As a flight-crew member checked his boarding pass, I heard him mutter something about wanting to sleep on the flight.
On-board, smiles, chuckles and quizzical looks could be seen on passengers' faces as our white-robed friend made his way to and from the toilet. Oh, and in case you're wondering, he wore the robe over his normal clothing.
Labels: travel
posted by Sauntering Walker at 7:34 AM
2 Comments:
Huh - strange. Which airline?
Maybe the dude was wearing the robe to save space/weight in his luggage.
You'd expect this sort of stunt on Tiger Airways, but I was on Virgin.
Maybe the robe wearer was a space-saver ... I've stuffed some pretty unusual things in suit bags in my time to save on carry-on luggage.
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