The time came to head out to the gate. Interestingly, my gate was beside my colleagues gate, but she was taking Air Canada leaving 10 minutes before me. Doesn’t she look happy?

As they are being let on in the classic classy Air Canada way, my LOT people, well…….you tell me.

Yup. Pretty disinterested. So after a long wait…..the Air Canada plane was almost finished boarding……they called the boarding announcement. Now usually it is business class and pre-boarding for kids, etc. They might have been doing that, but unfortunately for me, the call was only made in Polish. I am a bit rusty in my Polish so I did not have a clue what they were saying. I watched as kids and parents started coming from all angles, pushing people and getting in. Then they made a call in English which said business class can come. But no! The business class line formed and the kids were still coming from all sides. As we tried to check in the mean looking check in lady actually PUSHED a business class passenger in front of me to stay where he was. Wow. Then after the kids were almost done,  general boarding started coming in from the sides and she STILL pushed us away until finally the guy in front of me got pissed off and pushed back and then we all pushed. What a strange way to be treated, especially in business class. They need to wake up to customer service. So…..then the long walk to the boarding.

On the plane I had seat 1G……1^st row window. The inside of the plane was in bad need of repair or burning down or something. The seats were so old that pieces of trim were coming off of them. It was a joke. The guy next to me was being a dick, and in general, it was not a warm and fuzzy nice feeling.

Time was ticking away and a 10:20 departure made way to an 11:00 departure. And it was HOT in there. We were given a glass of water and some champagne, so that made me feel  a bit better until my colleague on the AC plane I could see out my window sends me a picture of the pod she was sitting in and a copy of her menu which, among other things, included seared scallops. Not really what I wanted to see……

OK…..so it is now 11:00 and we push back and the show starts.

We finish this in time for the captain to tell us it is time for take off and it will be a rough ride. Oh great. That made me feel so much better!!!! 

The take off was smooth and although it was a little rough getting through the clouds, once we made cruising altitude it cleared up. So as I waited for the service to begin, I decided to try the enetertainment system. I had a 12 inch screen in front of my seat. It was old and a bit fuzzy, but the whole plane is old and fuzzy, so this is no surprise. What was a surprise was……ready for this???? There are 14 channels and only one works and it is the trip map!!!!!!!WOWWWWWWWW!!!

It is not only my TV. The entertainment system does not work. Awesome. A nine hour flight and a map to watch as we crawl towards Europe. I get my cell phone and charger out and figure I can amuse myself playing brickbreaker for part of the trip. My battery is a little low so I plug it in to the plug in the seat and…….wow!!! The plugs do not work! No power captain! This is getting better. I ask my crabby seat mate if his works. Nope. Now he is even more of a crab!

So they come asking me if I want “wine or beer or something”. All class. So I ask for a red wine. He brings this beat up piece of paper with three wines listed in Polish. I recognize the word Spain and order that. My crabby seat mate agrees I chose a good wine and he also orders. I am making a breakthrough with the crabby seat mate. Things are looking up.

There was no menu but the life jacket guy came by, handed me a cloth to put on my tray (he could not be bothered to put it on my tray himself) and then asked “do you want beef, chicken or fish?” to which I thought, where is the menu? What do these mystery meats come with? Without thinking I ask for beef as I figure it is the least of three evils. Within minutes the first course comes…..remember this is now midnight……it is the salad course. And of course there is only one food I HATE and that is beets, and there is was, huge piles of beets under the lettuce. UGG!

I eat the salad, eat around the beets and get another class of wine and water in time for the main course. Some kind of tough chewy beef chunks in gravy with mushy green beans. Awesome!

I pushed that around a bit and felt a little guilty for not eating more. He takes it away and gives me a scowl and asked if I want desert. Hey…..why not? Out comes coffee and a piece of some kinda pie. It actually tastes kinda like the beef dish……..

Enough complaining. My seat mate is watching a movie on his laptop and I want to bonk him on the head and take it away so I can watch. Note to self: load entertainment on computer for emergencies. But all is not perfect as his battery  is running low and, as mentioned, the plugs do not work. But wait!! Super hero life jacket guy has another option. A hand held entertainment device loaded with music (Polish), news (Polish) and movies (English!!). I take one like an alcoholic takes a drink, with longing in my eyes.

As I set it up he comes back with a shot of cherry vodka! The promised Polish treat, vodka, has finally arrived. It was sweet but nice and I enjoyed every last drop.

So I get the movie set up, my chair reclined……oh, it only reclines part way….something wrong with it…..and then the cabin lights go out…..and my eyes start to shut….the movie starts to fade as I drift off until…..BANG…..BANG…..the flight crew are making one hell of a noise with trays and stuff. This goes on for the next 2 hours…..drift into sleep…..loud noises…..drift….BANG…..toss…..turn….ear plugs…..eye mask……BANG…..until finally 5 hours later the lights come back on and it is time to wake the cattle. A hot towel and breakfast.

Not sure what this was, but it was interesting for sure. Ate the fruit and yogurt.....the bun was dry.....then got a hot towel. And sat and watched my map channel as we were still 45 minutes from landing.

Next installment.....landing, Warsaw, and the LOT flight into Berlin. The next part was good....stay tuned.