Once again, I'm back Asia. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to be exact. And it's been a long day of trying to stay awake, which I've incredibly failed at. No matter how many times I do this trip, time differences do my head in. And the worst experience of time distance is when you're on a plane.
There are great advantages and disadvantages to taking a 10 hour midnight flight. One great perk is that being so tired, you should easily be able to sleep on a plane.
On the other hand, who can actually sleep on a plane.
My entire plan to feel super exhausted, sleep when it's Malaysia time and then feel perfectly adjusted by the time we landed is impossible to do around the workings of a plane.
Taking off at about 12:30am in the morning (NZ time), having "supper" at 1.30am NZ time, having snacks delivered at 2.30am NZ time, and then eating breakfast when it's 4am Malaysia time...I don't know what my body is meant to be doing.
To be fair, it was the smoothest flight I've had in a long time. It feels rare to have a flight that has minimal turbulence on take off and landing, and also feel somewhat smooth through fog and cloud. So conditions seemed perfect, however the passengers around us were not.
Fact: No matter how many rows away you are from a crying baby on a plane, you are never far enough. Somewhere between 2-5am NZ time, while I was attempting to get my peak sleep timing in, there was one baby who decided that they would mimic alarm noises and grind on my nerves. Every time I woke up, that baby was the first thing I'd hear. No Taylor Swift song playing through my earphones could be good enough to drown out that noise, or painful feeling.
Also: crazy passengers don't just affect the one passenger next to them, they affect the entire radius. One woman, who was too perky to handle and way too talkative for a midnight flight, kept telling stories to the man next to her in an incredibly annoying tone, and then every time she finished her special vegetarian meal, she liked to put her tray of food on the ground or even in the middle of the already narrow aisle - instead of waiting for someone to collect it for her.
And a tip: People who may be in need of medical attention due to a low blood pressure condition should not sit in the middle of a 5-seat. Thankfully it wasn't too serious, but the fact that this dude had to be crawled over seats to be helped, well...didn't help.
So here I am now, hot with a headache that won't quit, feeling like it's 12am at night when it's only 9.44pm in Malaysia and 1.44am in New Zealand. I don't know if I should sleep, eat, or just stick my head in cold water.
Today's meal of the day btw, only because it's the only full meal I've eaten:
