Reading in the Lounge

Taking a three month leave of absence is an extravagance. So we decided to pile extravagance atop extravagance, cash in airline miles, and return to the States in first class. I'm not going to write up the flight itself; if you are really interested, you can find hundreds of hours of YouTube videos documenting international first class on any airline you can imagine (and some you had no idea existed). I will, however, note that the experience taught me some things about the reading habits of the international moneyed class.

We were flying British Airways, which granted us access to BA's first class lounge in Heathrow while waiting for our connection. The lounge, as lounges do, stocked newspapers and magazines to keep its guests entertained. I figured I could find some kind of bike, ski, or outdoor magazine to flip through, learn what the British are up to in the mountains. Or maybe I'd pick up the Economist or Foreign Affairs, which would let me both catch up on current events and put on airs for the benefit of the other first class passengers.

I ambled over to the magazines and took a look around. Let's see... Baku Sport? The Polo Magazine? Who is reading this stuff? Just who makes up the subscriber base for The Caribbean Property Investor? I left the magazines where they lay, deciding that wine flights at the bar sounded more fun.