I would still travel by ocean liner if I could (Cunard had it right in those old ads: “Getting There is Half the Fun.”) Of course, I wouldn’t have a job if it weren’t for airplanes, which brought about the age of cheap travel that made it possible for everybody to get around affordably, including travel editors. And air travel did have some moments of glory. Long before I joined Gourmet, I was lucky enough to travel first-class on Lufthansa, back when the upstairs bubble on its 747 was a full-fledged cocktail lounge, complete with bartender and German draft beer on tap. Pan Am set out a proper dining room above the fray. But when the airlines realized the economies of such luxury were against them, they scrambled to replace their upper decks with rows of seats.
All is not lost, though, thanks to the A380, the double-decker aircraft that is bringing a little half-the-fun excitement back to the skies. Nobody has revved that idea up like Emirates Airlines, which has a shower in First Class and private compartments for each passenger riding up front. Qantas and Singpaore also have the private compartments, but there are even some nice touches downstairs on the A380 in coach. For starters, because the 550-passenger plane has such a long upper deck, the lower level is squared off like an actual room, with no curving sides or arched ceiling. That’s got to be kind of exciting; I’ve never flown in a “room” before. Also, there are two staircases on board, one at either end of the long corridors. Imagine the possibilities—for speed-walking, perhaps a passeggiata just before landing, or, in your worst nightmare, endless games of hide-and-seek from an army of bored children.
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