How the other half live

I did not make it onto my listed flight at JFK. I waited two hours, only to find out the flight was totally full and being only stand-by, there was no room for little old me. I had to wait another two hours and they announced again that it was a 'Very full flight' several times. I felt so dejected, not only was the flight full but I was listed number nine for the stand-by list. I called James, almost in tears and told him that I probably was not going to get on that flight either.
Moments later they called my name. The lady behind the desk looked a little confused as I handed her my passport and looked at the guy who had called my name and he told her

'It's ok, you can give her a seat'

Then she handed me my ticket. Please note what I circled in red!

I had been upgraded to first class. I took my seat and sat there a little shell-shocked, feeling like an imposter. I mean, I knew it could be a possibility as I was traveling on an employee pass and she had listed me for an upgrade, I just had not really expected it to happen.

Now of course it would be a little tacky to take out one's fat old Nikon whilst in first-class, just to document the experience on one's blog. So you will have to excuse the quality of the next few photos, which I took sneakily with my camera phone :)

Here is my view. It may not look like much, but my feet are up, stretched out and
covered with a comforter. I was so comfortable, it was fantastic.

When it came time to eat, there were no plastic trays and cups. I was handed a menu from which to choose my fare. It was actually pretty hard to decide what to have, they all sounded wonderful and not at all like plane food.

I started with marinated cheese, followed by warmed breads with olive oil for dipping.

They then brought round the cart and made up these delightful plates of smoked salmon, shrimp, sour cream, capers, (red onion, which I of course declined), lemon and little toast slices. Then another cart from which they made a lovely salad, to my specifications, it was all quite ridiculous really.

For my main course I had a beef fillet, in a sweet chili demi-glace, blue cheese potatoes and carrots. It was cooked to perfection, which truly amazed me, being that we were on a plane. The meal was rounded out with an ice-cream sundae. I opted out of the whipped cream, but still, after all the other food, barely managed two bites before giving up. I was stuffed!

I relished every moment and felt so grateful and blessed to have this extraordinary experience. This is not the life I live.

I then reclined my seat FULLY into a bed, took a sleeping aid and actually fell asleep for about three hours. It really was amazing and the sleep was whtat I needed most of all at that point.

My little goody bag, complete with Burts Bees products.