A word about the newest innovation in movie viewing on airplanes if you haven’t experienced it yet. ex-Marine (husband, Steve) and I never go to movies, don’t have premium cable channels that show movies from the Dark Ages, or rent movies from Blockbuster or Netflicks. Complete happiness is six “newer” movies on a long haul plane journey. The most common question posed to Travels With Sheila is, “What do you do with yourself on a 9-hour flight?” My answer, “Watch movies.” If they’re terrible, we are extremely grateful that we didn’t pay to go see them. If they are wonderful, I watch a second time. When you run out of movies on the top of your “to see” list, watch a foreign movie with subtitles or dubbed. There’s nothing like watching a good Chinese martial arts or Bollywood movie while flying at 38,000 feet.

Unfortunately, many airlines are still showing movies on a large screen with no choices. Bad airlines… They can’t update their antiquated fleet fast enough or me. When lucky enough to board a flight with “Video on demand”, a person can settle in their seat, surf the video guide, put on a headset and begin watching during the boarding procedure and take-off. Just get ready for interminable interruptions during the first 30 minutes while the Captain/First Officer welcomes you, flight attendants make announcements in different languages, yadda yadda. You can even start, stop, forward and reverse the movie. Don’t want to watch movies? Play games or take a fast language lesson. What fun!

While on the subject of airline movie watching, I don’t know about you but there is nothing like a really great tearjerker movie on a long distance flight. I remember a TWA flight (“TWA” alone will give you an indication how long ago this was), sobbing loudly and blowing nose in a blanket at the unexpected pathos of Black Beauty (poor horsie…). I remember sitting and crying through The Notebook while ex-Marine watched another channel. Movie over, I tearfully choked out, “Watch this next.” and when he got to the part where Gena Rowlands didn’t recognize her own children, burst into loud sobs and said, “That’s his wife?”

But our latest and unexpected movie viewing topped both of those on a Lufthansa flight to Egypt from Frankfurt called, Everything’s Fine with Robert de Niro. Not to give the entire plot away, ex-Marine got to the saddest part just as a flight attendant approached to ask what entree he wanted. Sobbing hysterically (and loudly) with tears running down his face, she gave him a “look” while I quickly explained that he was watching a very sad movie and he’d have the beef….
Carry tissue in your pockets just in case the movie you are watching turns into the all-time tearjerker, let it all out and never mind the odd stares. On the flip side, laugh out loud if watching a comedy. You won’t believe how quickly time will pass…