My first adventure in Business Class!

My first adventure in business class….

I felt like a country bumpkin at first, I didn’t know how to lower the seat, where to find the TV or the tray and I just watched what other people did for a while! But now 8+ hours into my first foray into business class, I never want to go back! Is it really worth the extra thousands of dollars?? I don’t know for sure, but I definitely enjoyed it and ate better and slept better than I ever have on an airplane before. Though I packed a barrage of things to do in my carry on, it went into the overhead compartment and never came out, so no books, no soduko, no finishing my address book… instead I watched a movie (while eating a two hour long dinner, more to come on that) then slept until they gave me breakfast! Normally I’m not the biggest fan of airplane food, I’ve been known to leave it sitting and to go for a granola bar instead. However, Austrian Airlines did not leave me disappointed. The “chef” came out in his big white chef hat and French accent (real? I don’t know) and handed out the menus, I was already overwhelmed! So here’s what I had: We were first given a starter of rolled ham with cream cheese inside and an artichoke covered in roasted red peppers, plus I started having a nice Riesling at that point too. Soon came the appetizer and I had a smoked salmon tartar with a potato cake and asparagus. It was divine, and looked beautiful too! The other option was a seared beef salad. Next came a small helping of pea soup, and I know there are haters out there for pea soup and I used to be one, but this one was good. Next came my main course, because of my aforementioned ambivalence towards airplane food I decided to go the vegetarian route and had the linguine with buffalo mozzarella and a red sauce with pine nuts (other options were a rack of lamp and swordfish brochettes). It wasn’t too heavy and really hit the spot, along with this came a salad and tomatoes and some really great herbed bread. Needless to say I was already full, plus happy and full of 2 glasses of wine. Then came the dessert tray! I had a small piece of cheesecake, which though was not up to the quality of my sister’s, was quite good; this was followed by a glass of dessert wine. Just enough wine and food to help get me settled into sleep mode, and after I figured out how to adjust my chair to sleeping position (full layout folks!) I put on my little provided eye mask and slept with occasional wake ups. While sleeping I had an unsettling dream that the plane was going down and the cabin was full of smoke and that we had to land on an interstate in Germany… yet everyone was fine, just scared. Thankfully that was not the case and after another round of food after waking (this time I had an omelet with goat cheese and basil and tomatoes, not so good and potatoes, which actually were good and a fruit mix which hit the spot. I think I was still full from dinner so I only ate the fruit and a few bites of eggs). I feel like I’m writing a yelp review of Austrian Airlines business class! ☺ My love of yelp lives on, only through my personal blog! For a girl that had not even been on a airplane until she was 20, I feel like I’ve come a long way in the flying world. I love that I did not need my usual distractions while flying because I was actually able to sleep (it was an overnight flight). I’m currently waiting to board my flight to Erbil and will give another update once I actually arrive to my new home.