The flight home began in Delhi, continued through Rome, staggered on through NYC, and then finally ended in DC — hours and hours of flying, security, customs, security again, security again, passport control, long, luggage-laden terminal hikes, etc.
On the plane to NY, UD admitted that her feet (never her best feature) were giving out, and Mr UD ordered the chair.
Although certifiably old, UD ain’t the wheelchair type, has never been pushed around in one… I mean, after all, she had just done a creditable job (though only creditable) of maintaining a relentless month-long physical pace in Venice, Florence, and Rajesthan.
But ok all of that took a toll and as she exited the plane she was happy to see the chair, along with the nice woman in charge of (who knew?) wheeling her to the very front of every single hellish airport line. Although fundamentally since birth insanely privileged (visit India if you want to know how global inequality goes), UD has never occupied the First Class, Business Lounge, Priority Seating, Preferred Client world at all, so being whisked ahead of the crowd felt weird, wonderful, and guilt-generating (do my feet really hurt so much that… ?).
Au fond, it was obvious to your blogeuse, in the event, that she did need this help, and though the general solicitude (“Anything else? Can I check your blood pressure?” asked a Rome-JFK crew member. “Are you comfortable?” asked the woman pushing me.) made her feel uncomfortable, she also began to glimpse a world in which people don’t idiotically, stoically, refuse various forms of assistance.
January 19th, 2024 at 7:32AM
The year after we were married I went on vacation with the wife. One night, because, I’m sure of an error, we were immediately seated in a crowded restaurant despite no reservations. The experience of walking past a long line of waiting people straight to our table was glorious. It should happen to everyone, at least once, just as being delayed, crowded and frustrated should happen to our betters a few times.
January 19th, 2024 at 1:30PM
I broke a bone in my foot two years ago and asked for a wheelchair when I had to fly. It was unsettling, but also a scary window into what people with more permanent disabilities have to deal with. E.g. the wheelchair never showed up for one of my connections and I was forced to limp/hop my way to the next gate.
January 19th, 2024 at 2:13PM
Matt: Yes – these glorious (to use your word) moments for some reason always remind me of something Gore Vidal used to say: “It is not enough to succeed; others must fail.”
January 19th, 2024 at 2:17PM
Anon: Yes. In my case, because we ordered the chair sort of at the last minute (approaching the airport), it was there, but the paperwork wasn’t. The delay, with the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to use the chair, was somewhat upsetting.
It’s true that the whole experience made me ponder all the glitches and indignities people truly dependent on these systems must experience.
That limp/hop to the next gate that you describe must have been awful.