Just arrived after 24 hrs in the air

• Ekyang's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Singapore, Malaysia

Trip Start May 21, 2007 Trip End Jun 04, 2007 Next
Entry

  Singapore, Malaysia, Malaysia
Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Just got back from the SilverKris lounge where my future father and mother in law as well as my fiancee caught some complimentary drinks and snacks after being in the air for over 24 hours. Our flight started on a Monday morning at 9:30AM EST from Charlotte. From there we connected in DC after a 2 hour layover, where we flew direct to Narita, Japan. United Airlines coach seats are terribly uncomfortable with just no padding in the seat area. Definitely need to bring a pillow of some sort. I got stuck in the very middle after securing a seat for my fiancee' in the aisle by horsetrading some seats. She was already congested, had a very strong cough with no phlegm, and on top of that, her voice was gone to the point that she had to communicate with me via written messages in a little notepad. Her body temperature was swinging widely from hot to cold throughout the flight.

On top of all of her sheer misery, she developed some kind of eye infection in her right eye. Hell of a start to our upcoming wedding in Bali on Saturday.  

One of the things that makes it difficult is that there are no direct flights to Bali from the East coast. Once you arrive in Asia, you generally have to connect through Taipei, Bangkok, Singpore, or Kuala Lumpur, to get to Denpasar (Bali) Indonesia. In essence, you're spending the better part of about 36 hours in the  air or in airports. By the time we arrive in Bali later this afternoon, we'll be ready to crash on the beach and just let our toes wiggle in the sand.

Asian airport lounges are spectacular. Not at all like the U.S. Specifically the airport lounges of Narita Japan are top notch. American lounges could learn a lot from the Japanese model. The lounge here in Singapore is equally impressive in facilities, although the friendliness of the staff is not quite on par with  the Japanese.

Singapore's airport is also open 24 hours, a surprising number of stores and food stalls are still open even at 2AM. Even one of their pharmacies is open all night long.

Also, we learned about a free 2 hour city tour that takes you on a visual tour of Singapore if you have a long layover. Unfortunately they don't let you get off the bus as part of the visual tour although its free.
The tours begin at 8AM and run throughout the  day.

We opted to take an earlier flight into Bali.

Share

Next Entry