Tomorrow I am whisking 14 other Kiwis to Azerbaijan on a rather circuitous route that involves transits in Seoul and Istanbul. How could anyone even resist the names let alone the destinations themselves?
It is going to be a long time in the air, however, and as like rust I never sleep I have had to devise other forms of entertainment. One's fellow passengers are a likely bet.
My most lucky break in this respect was on a flight somewhere over Asia (the nationality of my neighbour will remain anonymous to prevent diplomatic fallout).
No movie could have been more riveting than watching this gentleman squirrel away into his hand luggage two packs of airline playing cards, a damp face cloth, a complete set of airline cutlery, two tins of fizzy drink, most of his dinner, his blanket and the ultimate challenge - two aircraft pillows (one of which turned out to be mine).
Could anyone beat that? I'm almost hoping to find out - it's a long way from Auckland to Baku.
