Flying

I had the do the old one-day-shuffle to Brisbane and back on Friday.

Up at 4.30 to catch a 6.00 flight, then back on the plane at 19.00 to get home after 21.00.

a) I'm not keen on getting up at my usual time in the morning, let alone 2 1/2 hours earlier than usual.
b) I don't like flying
c) I don't like flying with Virgin.

Actually, it's not the carrier I dislike so much as the planes. I was relatively ambivalent about flying back in the days when they didn't have those stupid screens in the back of every seat. In fact, I actually love flying in small planes. Give me a Dash-8 and I'm happy.

But a 737? Torture.

And it's largely because of those screens. I'm fine for the first ten minutes or so, but then the constant barrage of flickering light from all angles starts giving me a heck of a headache, which makes be feel nauseated, which then compounds the natural stomach-churning aspect of being in a large plane (which, like a large boat, is more likely to give you motion sickness than a small plane/boat).

Sometimes I can bury my head in something to read, and not look up for long periods of time, but eventually I do have to raise my head, and when I do I see the screens. No matter how much I try, I can't avoid them. I can turn off the screen in front of me, but I can't turn off the one in front of my neighbour - or in front the person across the aisle diagonally in front of me. Or the one that the person in front of my neighbour is watching... They are everywhere.

Then one of two things will happen. Either something will catch my eye and I'll look directly at a screen which is on an angle to me - something that actually makes it worse for someone who is astigmatic. Then I'll get a head-ache within a minute, tops. Or, I'll determinedly try to avoid looking directly at any part of the plane which has a screen in it - which pretty much confines me to looking at the roof, the floor and the back of my own hands. Even then, the flickering is still visible at the edge of my vision, so I end up getting a headache within a few minutes anyway - it just takes a little longer.

I don't know if there is a solution to this. I'd like to think that, if I walked up to the counter and said: "Hello, I have to sit somewhere where I can't see any screens, otherwise I'll feel physically ill and possibly throw up in your plane", that they might be able to arrange a non-screen seating location.

It's just that I'm reasonably sure the only way that would work would be if they put me in the very front of the plane and turned off the screens embedded in the wall in front of those seats, and the other people sitting there might object. Plus, that would make it hard to arrange the other seating requirement I have when sitting still for hours at a time - an aisle seat so I can stretch my left leg, which starts to ache if I can't move it regularly.

Honestly, I'd much rather take the train or drive. If only modern society didn't have this crazy notion that just because you can get from Point A to Point B in two hours, you should.