Ok, my first order of business is to apologise for the lack of post last week. I was very busy all week and I couldn’t quite work myself up to sit and write a blog. Very unprofessional of me, yes but I never claimed to be professional. There will not be a post next week either. I will be home on holiday and so I won’t be posting, I will be too busy gorging. However, depending on my level of exhaustion on the 5th of May, there should be a post on the 6th of May as I will be able to do it on my overnight at Dubai airport.
With less than 1 week to go, I find myself at a level of preparedness that is surprising, even for me. By Saturday (I fly out this Friday), I was fully packed. I don’t mean things gathered together or roughly thrown together packed either. I mean my suitcase has been arranged and padlocked and my hand luggage has been sorted out along with my ticket and passport style packed. Either I am brilliantly organised or desperately sad. Depressingly, I think I can guess that answer…
Regardless, I am packed and ready to go and with the exception of one day, everything has been planned and sorted…even to the point where I am having a cheese and pickle sandwich (an old favourite) brought to me at the airport. Ok, I can definitely answer that question now. Sadly, whilst packing and getting organised, I noticed that instead of a 7 hour wait at Dubai, it is actually a 10 hour wait and overnight as well.
*Sigh*
Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact I will have plenty of time to run amok through all the duty free shops and restaurants in the terminal 2 (The good terminal, which pleases me as I was stuck in terminal 3 last time) but I don’t sleep well in airports. Last time I needed to sleep in the airport, it took me hours to drop off then as I did drop off to sleep, prayer bells then woke me up. Also, I know what you are thinking: ‘Well, why don’t you just sleep on the plane?’. I could but then I would miss the brilliance of long-haul flying.
‘Ok, now we know you’re a bit weird, Robbie. Long-haul flying is awful’ is what you are now thinking, isn’t it? But is it? Let’s break it down, shall we?
1. You are stuck on a plane for x amount of hours
A valid point and made worse by the possibility that you will be stuck next to a complete stranger who snores/drools/smells/talks/giggles/exists and I can understand for those people who like to be out and about, doing things. However, apart from the stranger bit, what difference is it really to working? For example, whilst I may have a varied number of jobs to do at work, I am still required to be at work for 9 hours. When I worked at Tesco, I was required to remain at Tesco. The only difference is that on the plane, I can watch films; read my book; play my DS or GBA; catch up on other work; chat to my friend/family; or various other activities. This leads me to the next point…
2. They are incredibly boring
If you can’t find something to do on a plane (in regards to long-haul flights), well then, that is your fault, I would argue. If you are travelling with a friend or family, you can chat to each other or play games. Bring some travel games; a pack of cards; or even just some of those naming style games. Last time I flew with a friend, we spent a good hour or two going through the alphabet naming various items e.g. countries or animals. Alternatively, bring some books or magazines with you to catch up on your reading. Especially with kindles and tablets, it is easier than ever to have a huge range of books/magazines/newspapers at your fingerprints. Even if you forgot to bring any reading materials, most airports do have loads of shops and many (long-haul) flights provide newspapers and magazines. Finally, I don’t know about you but I don’t get to the cinema that much but I do enjoy watching films. A lot of long-haul airlines now provide TV screens where you get a fairly decent number of films (both old and new) as well as television shows and music. In fact, on my flight back, I will be able to catch up on the new Mission Impossible and the new Sherlock Holmes. On my flight back from Hong Kong, I actually manage to break my record for number of films watched in a row: 7.
3. The food and drink is awful
Ok, I can’t quite argue this (especially since the quality of meals on flights vary so drastically). However, you have already paid for it, so you may as well try to enjoy it and I have certainly ate worse. Not only that but it is even brought to you! Woo hoo! Also, though it varies from airline to airline, you often get various free drinks during the flight e.g. tea, coffee, juice, coke, wine, vodka etc (I say free because on short-haul flights, you have to pay separately). I had actually had a rather novel experience with food on a plane. Again, coming back from Hong Kong, they served the usual meal you would get but they also served ramen from the back of the plane. You just walked up to the bar at the back of the plane and they handed you ramen with chopsticks.
As you can see, just a few reasons why I actually enjoy travelling on long-haul flights. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want to do it on a weekly basis and it is a completely different story if you are afraid of flying or you are somebody who needs to be active regularly. I am also aware that each airline (even the flight routes) can have different standards thus affecting your experience but my point is though, just try not to go into it thinking ‘this is going to be awful and boring’.
Hmm, I am quite pleased. I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about this week and then this popped into my head! Ok, onto my picks of the week.
Weekly Pick
Last night, I finally got round to watching the anime film ‘The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’ and was generally impressed. First of all, as you can guess from the title, it is about a girl who can travel through time. Whilst a slightly overused premise, I would argue that there was enough originality in the story to keep it from grating (especially how she actually time travels). Also, unlike ‘Back to the Future’ for example, the time travel doesn’t really affect her (except for a section where she ends up singing karaoke for 10 hours) but those around her and even then in generally subtle ways. There are no sections where her existence may stop existing but it focuses on how her ‘timeleaps’ affect her friends lives e.g. whether or not one of them dates a girl etc. This then does culminate in a fairly tense finale which keeps you on the edge of your seat but overall, the film has a heartwarming and humour tone to it.
The characters themselves are fairly cliché e.g. the sullen yet actually friendly teenager and the incredibly shy girl but you warm to them throughout the film and it is interesting to see how they react throughout the different scenarios. It is also good to see that the main character, once she gains her timeleaping ability, act likes the teenager she is and just has fun with it for the most part, rather than doing anything to major with it before she realizes the effect that she is having.
The animation is simple (particularly for this day and age) but there are some stunning hand-drawn backgrounds through the film and the simplicity actually works to the films advantage and tones: over exaggerating reactions and facial expressions without being crude and overbearing. There is also a particularly beautiful scene where time has frozen and whilst there is colour, it feels like it has all drained away. There is also an interesting background which subtly reflects the story of the film, a hand-drawn split in the road, where things begin to go badly.
The main problem I felt with the film is the ending. I won’t go into it but there are a few things that just remain completely unexplained and one bit which just makes no sense what so ever. However, overall for anime lovers, this film is a good relaxing watch that keeps you interested without having any overwhelmingly complicated plot points.
Characters: 7/10
Story: 7/10
Visuals: 8/10
Total: 7/10
Music of the Week
This 1000x over: Bruce springsteen - Death to my Hometown (with Tom Morello)
and following the same theme but in a very very very different tone: Street Sweeper Social Club - Clap for the Killers
Ok, so that was quite the blog! Didn't imagine it would ever be so long but hopefully it makes up for last week and next week. So, you will hear from me again in two weeks time! Byyyeeee
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