Departure
Trip Start
Dec 24, 2006
1
8
Trip End
Dec 31, 2006
San Francisco,
California,
United States
Sunday, December 24, 2006
It's been a year since I wrote a travel-blog. One of the difficulties of working is that you do not get an opportunity to write. As a result, my writing skills have deteriorated substantially. The other thing is that you don't get enough time to read books. Most of my free time is spent relaxing. After a hard day's work, the last thing I want to do is spend the time trying to read or write. When I do get an opportunity to read, I usually just read magazines such as The Economist. Air travel gives me an opportunity to read the books that I've been meaning to read for awhile.
The good thing about having a frequent flyer account is that you can cut the huge lines at the economy check-in counter. That in itself is worth having an account. Having flown to Singapore and China a few times over the past year or so, I now have Silver Status on Singapore Air. Practically, it doesn't mean anything as there aren't any "real" rewards but the opportunity to skip the economy check-in lines on United (Star Alliance member) makes it worth it. This makes me choose the Star Alliance airline partners whenever the prices between airlines are negligible. Smart program, whoever came up with the idea in the first place!
Flying never ceases to amaze me. That these giant vessels of metal full cargo and people can actually flying into the heavens is a testament to the creativity and engineering prowess of mankind.
Mid Flight
The point when I start getting restless is about the 6 hour mark. Domestic flights in the US never go over 6 hours so anything longer starts getting tiresome. The other issue is that this flight starts out at noon when the other flights to Hong Kong, etc. are midnight+ flights. As much as I want to sleep on a noontime flight, you can only do so for a few hours. Your body rhythms prevent you from sleeping more than a few hours. Equally importantly the UA 747 airplanes have terrible entertainment systems so effectively you are just staring into space for hours and hours.
At least the people on this flight have been decent. This flight is one that stops in Narita but continues to Thailand. As a result you get a mixture of Japanese and Thai's on the flight. Additionally there is a decent number of Taiwanese who will be changing flights to Taiwan once they reach Narita. The good thing is hasn't been any out of control kids or rude adults on this flight. Most of the passengers have been really shy/quiet and they've been ignoring all interactions with strangers on the plane.
I did meet 2 travelers around my age. One of a Japanese guy who is a 27 y.o. student at SFSU and the other is a Thai girl also at SFSU. They didn't know each other and I spoke with them on separate occasions in line and on the plane. They were friendly people, both striking up a conversation with me without my initiating anything. I may meet up with the guy in Japan but we'll see how things go on the trip. I did find out from the guy that it's relatively cheap to rent a mobile phone at the Airport. He says it should cost around $50...I may just do that when I get into Tokyo.
