travelling proletarian class
Published by ken May 1st, 2006 in bones in ice creamI’ve been here and there over the past week or so. I took my first trip to Phoenix, AZ over the weekend, and found it decidedly beige. While you can hardly fault a city built in the desert for being beige, it’s hard to notice anything else. For what it’s worth, the sky is incredibly blue. Coincidentally, the car service greeter that picked me up at the airport wore a turquoise polo shirt and khakis. After all, what other colors are there in the desert?
Anywho, after flying here and there in coach, I found it disheartening to read about a proposed seat configuration for upcoming Airbus jets: Standing room only. [via Gizmodo]
Whoever thought this was a bright idea on a jet designed primarily for long haul flights should be flogged. Naturally, I’m sure this nameless designer will be lauded internally within the airline industry for creating efficiencies and allowing millions to experience what sitting at a bus stop for five hours feels like.
Phoenix is decidedly beige. My sister lives in Scottsdale which is beige with a platinum lining. Turquoise is ubiquitous (eh, uh- ubiquiturquoise???), as is identity theft. Check the NY times article from earlier this week: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/30/us/30identity.html
As an American trained in LARGE scale living, it’s hard to know where my personal space stands in the global economy. Granted I’ve retrained myself after trips to Japan and some city living, but I couldn’t frank with that Airbus standing room only business. A design question- wouldn’t it occupy the same amount of space to have the passengers horizontal rather than vertical? And wouldn’t we all much prefer to be lying down in our own private capsule than standing next to a stranger? The capsule hotel model seems perfect for airplane cabins.