“Here are your seat assignments, gentlemen, 1A and 1B.”

“Can I interest you in some champagne?”

“Your hospitality package is right next to your assortment of reading material, sir.”

“Would you like freshly baked cookies with your ice-cream, sir?”

No, Volleyball Canada didn't spring for business class tickets for us after winning Nationals. Instead, we were lucky enough to get upgraded by the good folks at Air Canada, and those were some examples of the questions/comments that came our way while we reclined in our cozy first class seats!

It's a different world in business class, and as "Elite" frequent flyer members, Ahren and I have been fortunate this year, often getting upgraded for many of our transcontinental flights, including our latest trip home from Poland.

Because we rack up so many flying miles with Air Canada, we actually have access to a whole world of travel perks and special privileges. In addition to the several upgrade certificates they send us, we enjoy taking advantage of business class check-in at the airports (no more lines!), as well as exclusive lounges to wait in during our layovers (equipped with meals, comfy chairs, tv's, computers, showers, and even beds to take a cozy little nap!).

This blog may be starting to sound like an ad for Air Canada, but actually I am just trying to find the glass half-full perspective to, what in the end, is still an eight hour flight. And no matter how you slice it, it still isn't how I would choose to spend my time if I had the choice. But having business class seats certainly helps, so don't think I am complaining!

The newly designed seats, called "pods" (see photo of Ahren kicking back), which we experienced for the first time, were actually a bit smaller than the first class seats of old, but better equipped for comfort and convenience (here I go with the commercial again - you'd think I was sponsored by them or something!), e.g. 12-inch personal monitors where you can watch the latest Hollywood movies or play video games with the built-in controller. They even found a way to give us a power source plug-in so that our laptops don't run out of juice halfway through the trip. And finally, the seats recline to a comfortable sleeping angle with a built-in massage for those finicky back muscles!

Anyhow, my 30 seconds is almost up, so I better wrap it up. I suppose the appropriate thing to do (after my air Canada sales pitch) would be to sign off with a catchy airline-themed slogan, also designed to subconsciously lure you back for more blog reading:

"Heese-Cadieux blogs... first class all the way to Beijing"

I know, I know - considering our three weeks of no updates on the site, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Let me try again.

"Heese-Cadieux... all business during their journey to the Olympics"

Not bad - still needs some work though. Give me one last chance.

"Heese-Cadieux blogs... check-in anytime"

Much better.