Air Sarko One

As you might expect, I am patiently awaiting my invitation to fly aboard Air Sarko One, the Airbus A330-200 acquired from Air Caraïbes to be the presidential plane. I don't mind being overlooked for the trip to South Korea as it would have been unlikely I could have slipped away and across the 38th parallel to get Kim Jong-il to sign my DVD of Team America. I shall be less understanding if the next flight is to Dubai or, for that matter, Nice.

It is good to know that €176 million can still buy the sort of conveyance that makes traveling tolerable in a time when most airlines treat passengers as though they were condemned prisoners in a maximum security facility. It is all part of the French government's austerity drive and I commend their restraint in buying d'occasion in this instance avoiding the temptation to get that 'new plane smell' that is so seductive.

This puts to shame the G5s that I have been known to frequent and I must say that even a used A330-200 trumps a new G5 in my book any day. Too bad about the full bath though. It would have been nice to have a hot, candle-lit soak with cabinet level filles sympas but, all things considered, the flood-proof hip bath is a sensible alternative to shorting out all the electrical circuits in heavy turbulence at forty thousand feet.

Perhaps I'll see you on the plane.