In the Lap of Luxury

I had decided that a milestone trip to celebrate a milestone birthday needed a milestone start. It takes 10 ½ hours to get to Sri Lanka from Paris. Sri Lankan Airlines flies there non-stop three times a week. A direct flight sounded good. A 10 ½ hour direct flight in Business Class sounded even better.
What a pleasure to stand in a very short check-in line and a very short security line and then make my way to the calm and quiet lounge to wait until my flight was called.



Then I walked through a Business Class corridor to board the plane and settled into a seat that was big enough to relax in with enough room for my legs to stretch out. These things alone would have been worth the price differential. But there was more – much more.
On this particular flight there were only four people in Business Class – an American businessman, a Sri Lankan couple and me. We had two lovely flight attendants dressed in peacock saris who took excellent care of us.



“Hot towel?”
“Papaya juice”
Newspapers, toiletry cases and the menu followed.
About an hour or so after take-off, they came to serve us our first meal.



Medallion of Lobster & Marinated Prawns with Russian Salad
Cream of green pea soup
Tulip of salmon with hollandaise sauce, pan-fried broccoli with garlic and birani rice
Mushroom Ravioli with Poultry Cream sauce & Sundried Tomato Sauce.
Fresh fruit
Black Forest Cream Tartlette
Coffee

I ate happily from Vienna to Budapest.
After a bit of reading and a long nap, as we were heading down the Persian Gulf, they came around with another elegant meal. I won’t describe it all – you’ll only be jealous – but here is the main course.



Not too long afterwards we began our descent. I looked out the window but it was pitch dark. At 4:30 a.m. Sri Lankan time (1 a.m. Paris time) there was a gentle thump, the sound of the reverse thrust of the engines and we slowly rolled to the gate. The American businessman and I walked down the steps to our own private bus. (We never learned who the Sri Lankan couple was but they were sufficiently important that they had another bus just for them). I still couldn’t see anything but I was here. In Sri Lanka. At last.