SE Asia – On my way to the promised land… ;-)

This was the view from the plane on the Orlando runway at 7:30 this morning.

The 737 aircraft was packed to the gills. I did have an exit row but God only knows why I chose the window seat. Whatever. Pretty smooth ride for the most part on the 5.5hr trek to LAX. Walked the tunnel from Terminal 5 to 6, grabbed a burger and another coffee. This terminal was jam packed. There  must have been about 40 Japanese kids on a trip but once again, luckily, I was in Zone 1 and they were in 2 so I got on ahead of the mob. This is another packed flight and it’s a 747 so there must be 400 people on here. The SO CALLED exit row I booked has ONE seat (WINDOW) that does not have another seat in front of it. I’m on the aisle but jammed in like a sardine. OY Fortunately the young woman in front of me asked me if reclining would be a problem. I told her I thought it would be and she said… no worries. She doesn’t need to recline. Very sweet.

We’ve now been on this plane for about four hours with another SEVEN to go! CARAMBA! I guess I need to learn a comparable word in Japanese or Thai. This flight stops in Tokyo for a couple hours then on to Bangkok on the same aircraft and same seat. I am going to check and see if I can upgrade to something more comfortable. I contemplated doing that a month ago but MY logic said, oh the exit rows are always comfy for me. Should have trusted my gut. The flight from Tokyo to Bangkok is about 6.5 hours more. I’ve already circled the entire plane once. I may need to do it every couple hours. I would have loved to have booked business class but it was more than THREE THOUSAND MORE than I paid. They have pod like areas with beds!!

Just got up for another walk and met the nicest flight attendant, Beth. She gave me a couple Tylenol Arthritis for my achey back then we spent 15 minutes gabbing about the state of education in the US and how it’s being damned and corporatized by the greedy politicians. A lady after my own heart!

Well it’s 8:12 which means I’ve been traveling for a bit over 12 hours now. (Two hour layover in LAX). I set my clock to Thai time when I got started this morning to try to get by body rhythms to begin adjustment. Thailand is 12 hours ahead of Orlando so that means it’s 8AM Tuesday now. I arrive in BKK at 12:30AM tonight/Wednesday morning.

Purchased WiFi on the MCO-LAX leg and had fun chatting with Buddy, my American teacher pal in Bangkok as well as posting a bit on FaceBook and listening to Pandora. I loaded a bunch of movies on my iPad but the USB charging system on this plane isn’t strong enough to charge it. It works great for the phone which has a lower power requirement. Delta has some great selections on their system. I’ve watched “Enough Said” and “Hangover Part 3”.

I’m sitting next to a gentleman from New Zealand who has taught and lived all over the world. He’s 84 and quite a character. I didn’t find out until the end of the flight but the other guy in the row, with the lucky exit row room plays sax in the band Average White Band. I remember the band from way back… AWB. He has been with them for 18 years and they’ve been around longer than that. Cool!

I’ve got to see if I can catch 40 winks or I’m going to be a walking zombie soon.

I managed to get a few zzzz’s but not many. In any case, I SURVIVED!

Landed at Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT) about 1615. It looked dreary but turns out it was twilight. Was surprised that we had to go through security again even though we never left the international terminal. It was a little slow but pretty easy.

I decided that I was going to try to upgrade to Delta’s Economy Comfort once we got to Tokyo (NRT) but had a very sweet agent at my gate who switched me to an exit row by the door where I can actually completely stretch out my legs! I’ve got to recheck the online system and see if I can make the needed changes. I know the aircraft better now and can make a wiser decision. The seating map online was a little misleading.

The Delta people in the airport and on this plane are very sweet as well. I was also lucky to be the first person in Zone 1 to get onboard and there was an empty bin overhead. We are scheduled to leave in 10 minutes and I am the only person in this row! WOW! Leaving here at 19:05 and get to BKK at 12:30, Wednesday, BKK time which is two hours behind Tokyo. This flight is 6hrs 23mins. I need to try to stay awake so that I can sleep once I get there. Time to turn off devices. Japanese rules. 🙂

It’s 22:18 and I’ve been up from a great couple hours of sleep on the NRT-BKK segment. I’m so lucky to have this row to myself. I have my bag sitting next to me so I can grab whatever I need easily. We had dinner shortly after boarding around 19:30. The food, to my surprise, has been pretty good. I may have to break open one of the bite size Nabisco packs I brought. We’ll be in BKK in about 1.5hrs.

I found this pic on FaceBook on Monday, the day after the Grammy’s. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are great guys and great singers. Their song, “Same Love” was a Grammy winner. I don’t like Rap but their style is more song like to me and this particular song is a real heart tugger / tear jerker. Look it up and listen if you haven’t heard it. Check YouTube for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. http://youtu.be/CUM6JKkcYH4