Long Hauls always seem to go by Quickly

The boarding procedure for International flights seem to have a much more structured and chaotic check-in process than your basic domestic flight. Unique to International flights, when the gate opens two hours in advance, the constant flow of people with passports of different colors and sizes flow into the waiting area. On this flight, many ethnicities were represented - which surprised me; I was expecting white and black people. But there were Asian, Indian, Portuguese, Nigerian, Dutch among others.

The very first passengers to the podium are those like me - angling for emergency exit or bulkhead row seats. The second wave of questions are mostly around confirmation that the passenger has arrived at the right gate. As more people arrive from connecting flights, the rush is on, and a line forms as families try to change seats to sit together, others want a move from aisle to window, while others simply want out of the middle seat (sorry, full flight).

The final push are men trying to get an upgrade into Business Elite. Maybe one of them will succeed, the others are sent back to whence they came.

Ten minutes until boarding, the gate lice come out in full force. Crowding the single double wide door that opens into a smokey glass walled anteroom, restless to make a move. Finally, after wheelchairs and small children w/wo strollers are called, business class is called to board. After I wipe away a small tear brought on by not following the mostly white, short and overweight passengers on board, I positions myself so that I'm not at the front, but will be one of the first on board.  Why is this important? Again, one of my fears. Unless I'm in business or domestic first, I like to put both my rollaway and laptop bag in the overhead bin. Early boarding ensures this.

After offloading my iPad, my headphones, liter bottle of water and hand cream (anything I'll need throughout the flight), I prepare my seat. Like a rubic's cube, I take all available comfort elements - airline pilow & blanket, lumbar support cushion, neck pillow - and arrange them to find the precise fit that best matches the contour of my body (flat ass, long legs and torso). Of course, every time I stand up, I need to rearrange since strategically placed comfort items fall out of place. As an anxiety ridden detail freak when it comes to flying, I always get lots of stares, and it drives my wife crazy.

Finally settled in 30G, one of the two best seat coach seats on the plane (I can see business class in the cabin just beyond the curtain, no lavatories around to stink up the area, and lots of legroom. Exit row 44 would be second best, but the crowding around the lavs may become tiresome. Given this row is reserved for assignment at the gate agent's discretion, set aside for the handicapped and infants, I don't know what to expect. Old ladies? Blind man? Parents with screaming infant?

In fact, a normal looking couple in their 30s took their seats next to me. They were clearly low maintenance people, stuck to Afrikaans in their conversation, and checked in on their kids before phones had to turn off. 

After the pushback from the gate, the 777 starts its engines one at a time. The low frequency vibration created by the massive turbojet engines increasing their RPMs makes me feel like I'm saddled on a rocket, it's so loud. Once both engines are at full idle, the silence of them is astounding.

After a short taxi, Delta 200 Heavy begins its take off roll.  I'm very accustomed to taking off in 737s, and pretty well can estimate when the plane hits V1 and subsequently rotates into flight. The fully fueled 777, on the other hand, takes about twice as long to leave terra firma. What gets me nervous is when it appears that accelleration has stopped, and the plane seems to be moving at a constant speed, and yet we're still not airborne. These international airport runways are around 10,000 feet long. I would love to know how much runway it ate up.

After an hour in the air, I struck up a conversation with the couple next to me. Coincidentally, they were traveling to Johannesburg for a single day like me. They were surprising a friend with an appearance at his birthday party. Their names were Christian and Patrice, have lived in Atlanta for 10 years and have a couple of young childen.  I'll see them tonight at the gate. However, they were flyng non-rev, and the flight looks really full, so they may not make it on board (edit - they didn't make the flight which departed overbooked).

I had a good seven hours of uninterrupted sleep, and believe it or not, watched no movies. I either worked or read. Fourteen hours later, we started our gradual descent, with the province of Gateung spreading out in every direction to the edges of the cloudless skies.