I’ve taken only three flights in the past year, all of them domestic short-hops and completely non eventful. That’s a record for me. In the wrong direction. I am really missing the long-haul experience of old. When international flights (beyond New Zealand) become available to Australians, I know the experience will be quite different. But I really hope that one surprisingly special element that I miss, returns.

I imagine upon reading this stories title that it was about the new “handshake” that some have adopted in these times. The dreaded elbow bump. Nope, not at all, although the elbow is turning out to be a lot more useful that we realise, including up in the skies.

These heady days of travel are all about bucket lists. Those often long lists of destinations and experiences to be ticked off before either we, or perhaps more appropriately, they – are gone.

Ahh, the airline lounge. That hallowed place of the privileged, a place to relax, work, drink and eat, away from the masses of the general terminal. 

Apparently, it’s a “thing”. Crying on planes. I thought it was just me.