Executive travel

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Doha, 12^th May 2014

Yes I missed a day, but with reason…I was down with severe food poisoning and absolutely not in a shape to write anything on Friday. The perils of travel I guess…I must say that (fingers crossed) I have been pretty good with hardly any problems, food-wise despite traveling from one country and culture to another against the background of different climates and temperatures…not even talking about jetlag.

But talking about travel, I treated myself on my flight to Doha, where I am presenting today (more about it tomorrow), on a luxury seat in Boeing’s new Dreamliner, the worlds latest addition in the sky. I had the chance to fly the first ever A380 when it was first launched (was it in 2009?) and now a flight with renowned Qatar Airways was a nice experience. How far have we come in travel in general and in executive travel specifically. While the new Dreamliner seems a bit tighter in space then the Airbus, the technology,comfort and sophistication on board is certainly top of the pops. Touch screen technology for both the tv screen as well as for the controller which now much looks like an Iphone, high definition screens and most of all WiFi on board! For the first time in my life I skyped back home at 40,000ft up in the air while flying over India and could share the inside of the plane with my “skypers”…how cool is that, they were virtually with me on board! Since everyone had headphones on I don’t think anybody was disturbed with my skype calls… 🙂

What of course had my biggest interest was the lighting. Airplane technology is leading edge in all areas including lighting and of course every single light on board is LED. The latest trend in lighting is mood setting, viual orientation and visual adaptation and to a lesser extent on long haul flights reducing jetlag. There is a mood setting on arrival to calm people down before the flight takes off when people settle into their seats, then there is a another setting for departure, a pre-meal setting, a meal setting a after meal relaxed setting etc. All with different colour hues varying from warmish (the yellow-orange tones) to cooler tones (pinkish) and varying brightness. Blue is used as a night light, as general guidance and dark adaptation. For instance when you enter the toilet there is a blue hue complemented with a soft white which brightens up to the desired levels when you lock the door. Except the orientation and exit lights every other single light seem dimmable including your little personal LED reading light. It’s all about great personal comfort…how things have changed since the times of the DC-10!

Light Watch 5-78: I could not resist taking pictures on board…here are some impressions! Why after that we still had to take a bus to the terminal is beyond me…