Trip 1 - 2006
Sent: Monday, June 05, 2006 2:14 PM
Subject: Travel Day 1
I arrived at MSP airport just before 1:00 PM for a 3:05 departure to Singapore. The first leg, Minneapolis to Tokyo is twelve hours. Tokyo to Singapore is another seven. The company sprung for a business class ticket so I got to go through a special line to check in, no waiting. I also got to cut ahead of the others waiting for security. I resisted the urge to give them a smug look. In reality I breezed through the lines too quickly and had to park at airport bar (damn!). One hour, two martinis and one Sunday crossword puzzle later I made my way to the gate. This is my first time flying on a 747. I always think of Grandpa when I see one. It looks even bigger on the inside. Business class seats are awesome – really wide, recline to a bed, massage your lower back, individual TV screen with choice of movies and music – way better than flying coach. At $7K, also a lot more expensive. I watched “The Hustler” with Newman and Gleason. Got a hot towel to clean up with, ate dinner and desert. We flew over Alaska – great scenery. I listened to 13 songs by Sam and Dave, plus 15 old Bebop tunes, watched “Hoffa” with Jack Nicholson and Danny Devito – more entertaining than I expected. I was served a small pizza during the movie. I checked the time, still seven f*@#%ing hours left just to get to Tokyo! I tried to sleep – no go. Finished one book and started another. Tried to sleep again – still no go. Still four hours to Tokyo. Discovered GPS display on personal TV screen showing the plane's location. A watching kettle…
We finally arrived in Japan. Interesting scenery from the air – pretty blue and red roofs on houses. A notable absence of backyard swimming pools. Everything is very green and orderly looking. We landed at Narita airport for a 2 hour layover. I never saw so many 747’s in one place. Thought of Grandpa again. Apparently Narita has more flights than gates as they parked our plane near the freight terminal, and we all walked down the stairs to waiting shuttle busses, no counterpart to ADA here I guess. The busses got very crowded. It was funny watching the westerners trying to maintain some space around them and the Japanese crowding in to fill impossible spaces. Wandered the airport and looked in the shops. Found a Starbucks, I was really in need of coffee. The menu was in Japanese but pointing and grunting works fine. A cute and very tiny girl took my order, I pointed to the medium sized cup on the menu, she yelled “grande” in a very tiny voice to the person pouring. I guess I could have just said that.
The two hour layover passed quickly and soon it was time to board the next plane – an Airbus A330. Same great seats. We took off into an overcast sky so I couldn’t see much of Tokyo. It got dark quickly so all I could see are stars and some lights on the ground. The stars are all very different here, different constellations. That is a bit unnerving. I managed to sleep lightly for about 2 hours but was too excited to sleep more. Lights over the Philippines were odd, towns appeared to have only two or 3 very bright lights maybe a half mile apart, not the usual grouping of many smaller lights like you see over the US. Red lights spread many miles apart along the coast of Borneo – not sure what these are for. Listened to about 2 hours of John Prine on the I-Pod. According to the GPS display, we are 388 miles and 38 minutes from Singapore. Now if I can just figure out how to get enough cash, rent a cell phone, and get to my hotel – I really need a bed!
Luckily, Leo met me at the airport and helped me get going in the right direction. He met me at 12:30 AM – what a guy. The taxi driver played American heavy metal music and drove very fast. Singapore looks beautiful in the dark.
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