airplane window seat vs. paradise

I have always been more of a window seat fan myself, and I have always gone out of my way to get the window seat until Tuesday. I was extremely late to checking in, and then came the dreaded words. You are in seat 5B; an aisle seat! I tried to convince myself that this would be ok, but deep down in side I knew it wouldn't. I sucked it up though and sank down into my aisle seat with dispair. As I sat down though, I noticed that I felt a little more freedom for my legs to roam around, but I just attributed that to the type of airplane. Then I noticed that I needed to go to the bathroom before they closed the doors, and the process was painless because I didn't have to crawl over anyone to get out to the aisle just because I neglected to empty my bladder before I boarded the airplane. I was starting to get the feeling that I didn't hate the aisle seat as much as I thought. As I returned to my seat, I stretched my legs (although at 5'10" on a good day, they aren't that long)into the aisle because my carry on was buried beneath the seat in front of me rendering that space unusable. As I sat back, with my legs stretched out, I began to think to myself what some of the other advantages of the aisle seat might be. I didn't have to think about it too much because the reasons just fell into my lap. When the flight attendant gave the typical pre-flight speech, I realized that during an emergency, I would be able to exit first, when they handed out the snacks and beverages, I got mine first, and when it was time to exit the plane, I got off first. Granted I can't see what's outside the window, but everything looks the same from 35,000 feet. Worst case scenario the guy sitting by the window closes it, shutting out the light and I have to turn on my reading light. As I was researching a picture to attach to this article, I stumbled upon some research from ABC news talking a little more in depth about what I had discovered with the advantage of the aisle. ABC news has this to say "sitting in one position for hours at a time can cause the passenger to develop blood clots in the leg. These can then travel in the blood stream to the lungs, where it could cause a pulmonary embolism." When sitting by the window, I never had that option to stretch out these long majestic legs like I did in the aisle seat. Let me just sum this up, Window: I get to see what's happening. Aisle: I get to eat my snack first, while my legs are stretched out while preventing myself from having a blood clot, then once my snack has been processed, I can go to the bathroom without making everyone in the aisle get out of their seats, and when all is said and done, I get off the plane first. #winning-Tyler

Posted in: culture,travel