Even if you can't afford it should you travel first class

 Hands up, on any long journey by train I travel First Class. This I do because of a Pavlovian response. Travelling to Edinburgh to attend a friend's wedding a few years ago I treated myself to a First Class ticket. Every time the train stopped to take on new passengers the attendant came round with the sauce. There were six stops on the way....I now salivate at the thought of a First Class journey by rail.

But that doesn't compare with travelling First Class on a plane. 

I've booked a cruise along Australia's Kimberley Coast in July 2025. I'm excited and scared simultaneously. I plan to fly to Melbourne, met a friend and take the train to Adelaide and then the Ghan to Darwin where the cruise begins. The train journeys will be to First Class. That's all fairly straightforward and, to my mind, affordable. It's the return flight from the UK that's troublesome.

 It's fairly inexpensive to go by Economy, if you're savvy it'll cost you less than a grand. But I can't go Economy. My justification is medical. I'm certified as having a degenerative backbone. Nothing to do with my Tory party like ineptitude - my spine is crumbling as I write. This means I spend 28 minutes every other day doing exercises that if videoed would make me the laughing stock of my neighbourhood ( I am already?) More importantly I can't spend 20 plus hours seated in a position  any animal protection league would deem inhumane (inanimal?).

I will have to travel Business Class I'd concluded. I'd rationalised this huge expenditure on the basis that if I travel pleb class I'd arrive in Melbourne crippled, would have to claim massive medical expenses on my insurance and would not be able to continue my trip of a lifetime.

Business  Class is o.k. but my only experience of Business Class - my flight from Dublin to Heathrow on BA was underwhelming. At £4,000 round trip that was manageable...

And the there was an article in Sunday's edition of the Daily Telegraph on what you get travelling First Class. I was shocked - how could anyone justify eating caviar and drinking from a £120 bottle of wine just to travel from A to B. Super soft bedlinen, your own shower and loo - bring on the revolution brother.  And the cost! 

Remember I'm a middle class, ex civil servant with aspirations of owning a Ford Fiesta - the cost was completely out of my experience. £10,000 - that's obscene - except if you're clever you can get it for much less..

Anyway, I mentioned this all to my wife expressing my disgust at the thought that anyone should travel First Class to Melbourne. She said "Do it", what's all that money you have in SIPPs, ISAs, off shore accounts doing if not to be spent. And the killer statement - You're old - spend it while you can!

I mentioned dementia. senility the cost of end of life care and leaving something for future generations - she reminded me we're childless. So in a nut shell I have permission to travel First Class to Australia. 

Up, up and away .. whatever happened to TWA and the Fifth Dimension?