Personal Space?

There has been a lot of hype in the media recently about arguments developing 30,000 feet in the air - mostly due to invasion of personal space. Most people have an understanding of personal space -they value it and they respect it. But as the airline business continues to cram more human bodies into essentially the same aircraft size (aka “the tin can”), while it struggles to maintain it's profit margins, the concept of personal space and good service onboard is fast becoming a distant memory. 

Remember these? British Airways kids goody bag
Photo credit @ ebayimg.com

Gone are the old days when children used to get a goody bag upon embarking the flight. Remember the blue British Airways bags with colour book and pencils? Now when you board, you get a “welcome onboard” greeting with a smile…. if you’re lucky!  

Lets put the fish on the table. Businesses by nature are not set up to make you feel good. Good businesses are there to generate profits for the shareholders in an ethical manner. In case of the airline industry, that translates to increased capacity which isn't necessarily proportional to the size of the aircraft. 

Lets take the example of my flight home from Doha to Perth. The easiest route is with Qatar Airways; direct in just under 12 hours. I know what you’re thinking; its not an easy flight (and to a degree, I would agree). There are however, longer legs out there. Unfortunately, I was stuck in the very last row of economy; in the middle seat with seats that did not recline. To top it off, it was an overnight flight. How is this fair Mr Airline CEO? I paid for a standard reclining seat with the ever decreasing width and leg room (no different to everyone else in the cabin). I understand its a business and you have to make profits; but could you at the very least attempt to think of making the travels of your poor customer minutely comfortable and try and schedule long haul flights to daylight hours? Alternatively, do not sell seats in the last row for long haul flights - they do not recline!

We as the general flying population, complain about the changes and the ‘lack of service’ but we also endorse it. We do it every time we purchase a red-eye economy / budget economy seat. Unfortunately, the financial divide between economy and business seat is so wide, it automatically takes the average man out of the affordability equation. Again, lets take the example of Doha to Perth. An economy seat costs $1700 while a business seat will cost me in excess of $8000. Does the extra leg room, bigger tv, fully reclining seat really cost 4 times as much?

Its not just the airline that makes life difficult for travellers. Sometimes, its the passengers themselves! Since we are going to have to keep travelling for business and/or for pleasure in increasingly smaller seats, here are some golden rules I would like to share with every passenger out there. 

Smruti's Golden Rules for Flying:

Surviving the middle seat
Photo Credit @elliott.org

1. Have a shower before you board the flight. If you’re a transit passenger, carry a small can of deodorant or if you really want to be good, also carry some body wipes and give yourself a dry bath before you board your flight. Seriously, nobody wants to smell your holiday and know you’ve recently been trodding through some cow manure while running through the streets on a hot day to catch your train. 
2. Middle seat. Now we all know this one sucks! Nobody wants to sit in the middle - particularly between 2 strangers! The person in the window seat has a little extra room as they can lean on the window. The person in the aisle can stretch their legs slightly into the aisle. But the poor middle seat guy is stuck in the actual allocated seat space. Dont be stingy - give him both the arm rests. Thats all he has. Yes, I’m talking to you - lady who sat next to me on a recent flight from Oslo to Stavanger!
3. Get to your flight on time. Its hard enough sitting in that small seat during flight. We dont want to have to wait for you to saunter in (or your bags to be unloaded) at the gate just because you were living it up in Duty Free at the airport and ‘forgot’ the check the departure monitors.
4. Depending on the carrier, you’re allowed about 20+ kg in check in and 7 - 10kg as carry-on. Thats a total of nearly 30kg! Try and keep to taking 30 kgs of your most precious holiday clothing and gadgets. If you cannot do that, my suggestion would be hiring a Pajero and going on a road trip. Seriously though - what could you possibly need that you cant take in 30 kgs?
5. Do not stuff all your carry-ons into the overhead lockers. If you spread 10kg of your carry on across 4 bags, it is  not fair to put them all overhead and take up valuable real-estate. You’re entitled to half a section of the overhead bin. If you have more stuff, sacrifice your own leg room and put it under the seat in front of you. 

   

   Overhead realestate is dear
   Photo Credit @http://si.wsj.net/public/resources

6. When the call for boarding is announced, dont rush to the front if your seat number has not been called. If you’re seated in row 5, you will be one of the last ones to board. Dont be a douche and block other people from getting past you to board. Look on the up-side. You’ll be the first to disembark! 
7. Dont keep kicking the seat in front of you. Flying is hard enough without having to deal with someone kicking the back of your seat every 5 minutes.
8. Dont try to block the person in front of you from reclining. Everyone has paid for the same privilege of legroom and a reclining seat. If you have a good reason like you’re working on your laptop, let the person in front of you know. They may be cooperative in giving you some time. If not, shut down and enjoy the flight. Most people will be polite enough to at least give you a few minutes to save your work and shutdown. Why should anyone else have to pay the price for you having to work? 
9. Keep toilets clean. There are in excess of 100 people onboard the flight and less than 10 toilets. If you have dropped a particularly smelly one, use the spray mist provided in the toilets before you exit and spare the next person the gag reflex. Better yet, have a light, healthy meal the night before your flight and avoid any uncontrollable gaseous and effluent toilet incidents. Remember - wearing headphones only makes your farts silent to YOU!

   

   Skip the Chickpea Salad before a flight
   Photo Credit @raesofcolor8 and @cookieandkate

10. Last but not least, be nice to the Cabin Crew. They’re doing their best. They deal 300 of their closest strangers day in, day out and they are responsible for every individual’s safety. It cant be easy.

Smruti's Notes for Cabin Crew

Safety is no laughing matter
Photo Credit @workplaceinsight.net

1. Dont laugh and fumble through safety demonstrations. It is not comforting to passengers. Safety is and should always be a serious issue. Putting your life jacket on backwards during a demonstration and not realising you have done this, is no laughing matter. Ofcourse, when someone points this out to you, dont laugh it off either! Yes, this actually happened!
2. Dont blame / handball problems to other members of the team.
   On a recent flight, a number of entertainment systems were not working. The cabin crew simply agreed to re-set the affected systems. Good. It took them an hour to go flick the right switches. Bad. Upon reset, the entertainment system was still not working so the cabin crew apologised. Good. Then proceeded to tell me that someone else re-set it the first time. Bad.
   If there is a problem, get onto sorting it out asap. Not an hour later.
   For information, the entertainment system never got up and running. I was given magazines to read on that flight and ironically, they were all about travelling luxuriously. 

What about you? Any other suggestions for your fellow passengers or cabin crew? Leave your suggestions in the comment box below. =O)

Personal Space
Photo Credit @thebrianahansen

Sri Lanka

Overall, I felt Sri Lanka is most beautiful and oh so young! It has a gorgeous coastline and amazing greenery inland. The culture is rich and the food is finger lickin good! Now lets not forget the tea -- oh the tea!!

In my view, Sri Lanka has the potential to develop into the best of Bali and Singapore. The timezone is just right for it to be able to develop into a financial hub and be an economic gateway into the sub-continent.

The natural beauty of the island is perfectly poised to develop into a tourist hub. Over the coming years as Sri Lanka ramps up its development, it will be treading a very fine line between over commercialisation and an ideal tourist haven.


In the future, we will look back and pin point this as a time where Sri Lanka made a decision - to either follow in India's mistakes or in Singapore's success. Either way, Sri Lanka brings its own individuality to the table and I for one, feel priveledged to have seen Colombo and greater Sri Lanka during its youth. I cant wait to see how the nation develops and progresses over the coming years!

Tour Guides and Conmen

Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, 2015

We recently went on a quick trip to Sri Lanka. The aim of the trip was to go get a first look at the country. It is a country that has been relatively inaccessible in the past; and now that it is open for business, we were curious to go see it before the tourist boom.

Although the country itself is gorgeous with beautiful landscape and wonderful wildlife, what really stuck in my mind is the people we met.

Beware of the tour guides

As our trip was a last minute adventure, we decided to hire a tour guide to show us around rather than plan out our own itinerary. BIG MISTAKE! Our tour guide was hands down, the most annoying person i have ever come across.

Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka, 2015

After 2 days on the tea plantations in Nuwara Eliya, on our way out of the region, our tour guide turns to us and says, "If you look to your left, you can see the people picking tea"

My thoughts: No Kidding. I thought they were out picking potatoes over there!

Galle, Sri Lanka, 2015

When we asked to stop at a market for some souvenirs, our guide took us to a 'mall'. My friend bought some tea for her family and colleagues. Later that day, we went to a supermarket and discovered that the tea (with the same packaging) was much cheaper! When we questioned our tour guide, his response was, "Ma'am, I can only say one thing - taxes! Supermarkets pay no tax while a small family store pays much more tax!"

My thoughts: uh huh... you mean the tour guide is friends with the shopkeeper tax. ;o)

Beware of the Conman

On our last day in Colombo, we decided to go for a wander around the harbour. Within seconds of walking out of our hotel, a guy saw us loitering around the parliament house admiring the old colonial building. He inched a little closer and said, "Hi, you cant take a picture of that building. Its parliament house and the police will harass you if they catch you taking a picture."
We said, "Thanks for letting us know" and started to move away - seemingly in the same direction. He fell into step with us and started making conversation. He mentioned that he recognized us from the hotel and that he worked at the hotel, had just finished his shift and was headed home.

As he walked with us, he asked us about our trip, how our experience had been in Sri Lanka and slowly gained our trust. He then casually said, "Best if you walk on the other side of the road - its safer, no pickpockets." So we promptly crossed the road. He then stopped us by a rickshaw and said, "today is the last day of the gem sale. Best bargains in the country. You pay me Rs 50 and i'll tell this guy to take you there." When he answer he got was a no thank you, he became quite angry and very forceful.... Shaken up, we just as forcefully told him to leave us alone! Less than 30 seconds later, cue the next conman - with a very similar 'pick-up' line.

We returned to the hotel and informed concierge about what had happened and that there were people out there claiming to work for the hotel. We found out that this was a problem they were aware of and had informed the authorities but hadn't noticed any improvement...!

This was my first experience with a tour guide - atleast in recent times. My patience has never been tested as much as it was with my Sri Lankan guide. By the end of the trip, everything about him got on my nerves; from his voice to his Limp Fish handshake! As for the conman, well, that's all part of the 'charm' in visiting a developing nation.
What has been your experience with tour guides?

Home is where the heart is? Stuff is? Mum is?

I remember hearing somewhere that it takes between 12 and 18 months to start feeling settled in a new environment. This makes me nervous. After all, I left Australia less than 12 months ago, I’ve been in Qatar now for less than 12 months and I’m gearing up for my first trip home as a ‘visitor’. I can’t help but feel nervous about perhaps maybe not belonging anywhere…

At the end of the day, I’m Australian; I don’t necessarily identify with being Australian mind you. For instance; I’m not crazy about bbq’s and lamb chops (Aussie) but I love curries (not Aussie). I love the beach (Aussie); but I’m not crazy about getting into the water (not Aussie).

I am an expat’s daughter and it is hard to deny that the time spent living in different countries, immersed in another culture and another language changes people. I love putting myself in uncomfortable new situations. The euphoria that comes with overcoming the situation and realizing that I have evolved in some small way is well worth the discomfort.

I have left my home base enough times to accept that the experience of living as an expat changes people in ways you don’t immediately realize. A fundamental shift in perspective and in thinking is inevitable. Ofcourse, because this is not my first rodeo, I know that this change has already happened and yet, not fully understanding the extent to which this has happened makes me a little nervous.

I’m nervous about driving when I visit home. Seems counter-intuitive when you think I’m going to a place where drivers are generally polite and follow road rules. But that’s exactly my point! I’ve gotten used to taking any small space available on the roads to keep moving forward.

I’m nervous about feeling lost and unsettled in Australia. I’m nervous about not fitting in anywhere and always being in a state of transition.

I’m nervous about not being able to converse with people and feeling like I have ‘lost touch’ with friends and local culture and that the ‘new’ me – the expat me will have grown away from family and friends.

Having said that, I’m excited to be going home! I can’t wait to get all my friends together again and discover Perth all over again! I can’t wait to see my sister and go shopping with her (like we used to do!). I’m excited to be a tourist in my own home town but most of all, I’m excited at the prospect of hugging my beautiful mum and my adorable dad; and it’s all happening in just a few…short…hours!

When you live abroad, you quickly realise that no matter where in the world you are, you will always be an expat. It’s a waiting game really, until you find a place that sings your tunes and makes you feel like you’re home ‘again’. 

For now, home is where wifi connects automatically. What about you? Where do you call home?

Photo Credit: @lovethispic.com