taking the window seat. what if you have to pee?

I occupied the window seat, though I would have wanted to take the aisle seat. The limited leg room of traveling economy, bulky row mates and the long hours could be quite a hassle especially when you have to go to the loo. It was good though since the two others occupying the row were quite considerate, learned Filipino passengers. I think they were doctors, so they’d always give way to someone who’d relieve a bladder.

I thought this was better than last year’s, when I was squeezed in between two large European men who spoke little English. On my return flight to Manila, I asked Chloe to get me an aisle seat. When I boarded the plane, my seat was by the window. Did Chloe understand what I said? Sure, she did—differently, though. I was seated by the wing of the plane, which, in French, is called, “aile.”---check.

So for fourteen hours, practically fastened immobile in your seat, what do you do? Ah, this is where traveling alone has its merits. There’s no one to disturb you while you catch up on the movies you missed that are luckily among the choices in your seat’s individual entertainment system. It was a relief the one beside me was not too chatty.

Some passengers could be quite unused to not talking. I remember when coming back to Manila last year, the one beside me, talked about his plight as an OFW. Oblivious to my headphones, he began his saga in detail, about his getting sick and not having anyone to visit him, and left to the frigid care of non-English speaking nurses. It would have been rude to shut him out by putting my headphones back. I listen to stories like these openly, but sometimes when miles above the world, it’s always better to leave all the hurts down there where these were caused.

Sensing a good gap to interrupt, I suggested that there was something good in the entertainment system, he might like to put his headphones on and check it out. Sure, he put it on. When the first round of meals came, I took my headphones off. And then he continued his saga from where he left off. So after the meal, I had my ears plugged till we landed.