27. That’s the number of times I’ve said “thank you,” and it’s only been about three hours into my flight from New York City to Doha, Qatar.
“Would you like more champagne, Ms. Lapelosova?” Porthmonth, a dark and handsome flight attendant from Mumbai asks me. “Served in a tumbler glass, as you requested earlier?”
I grew up in what the rest of America would consider to be upper-middle-class suburbia, but my family has always been poor. We give a good show, dressing nicely, and not bringing up things like politics or religion into conversation. But the most luxurious thing I’ve ever done in my life, is travel. People in my family just don’t do it, because they can’t afford to.