was flying into Germany in a stretch DC-8 (a frigging pencil with wings) back in 1978. I happened to be in the restroom when we hit the turbulence. All I could do was brace myself against the walls to keep from being rattled like a rock in can. Most unpleasant, especially since the restroom was in the rear of the plane with a really long moment of rotation.

A couple years ago, my wife and I encountered really bad turbulence during an afternoon takeoff in Phoenix. We were in the very last row of seats of a 757 (we'd missed an earlier connecting flight and those were the only seats available), making it even worse. My wife is a queasy rider to begin with and didn't enjoy it at all. Turbulence seldom bothers me, but after 10 minutes of that, the seat belt was really beginning to cut into me.

The best seats on any plane when you encounter turbulence are over the center of gravity (the wings). The further you are from the center of gravity, the worse the ride.