Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Overnight to Singapore

Through a kind of interesting coincidence, we let to go to Singapore out of the same gate that we used to go to Australia last year. The difference, though, is that we’d spent several hours in the Star Alliance Lounge (used by several airlines, but I suspect primarily operated by Singapore Airlines) on the 5th Floor of LAX. By the time we were ready to leave about 7:00 p.m. (local time), the place had really filled up.

Boarding with just 100 people on a plane goes very smoothly, especially when there are two aisles. There’s more than enough storage for everyone’s carry on “stuff”, even counting the numerous baby strollers on here.

Oh, did I mention how Karma is playing tricks on me again? I’ve counted at least 8 babies / toddlers.

It’s 17 hours, 40 minutes from LAX to Singapore. There’s a countdown clock on the little handset that runs the television gizmo.  My cell phone doesn't have a diaper change / feeding /crying meltdown gizmo on it to estimate how much of that there's going to be.


The interior if this plane is amazing. You don’t feel right on top of each other, there are plenty of bathrooms and lots of flight attendants scurrying up and down the aisles. They had, remarkably enough, matched our dinner orders that were sent in weeks ago with our seats and just came by to confirm that’s what we still wanted while pouring a bit more wine.

They’ve come by with hot towels several times to let you wash your hands and freshen up a bit. I still appreciated the shower at the airport, though. As I write this, it is 9:00 California time, 12:00 noon Eastern time, and we’ve been in the air some 13 hours.

There was a little turbulence, so they had to keep interrupting the service for drinks and food before dinner, meaning that it was finally served about 10:30 Pacific time – meaning that we were eating at sometime around 1:30 a.m.

That can be hard on a person’s digestive system if you’re on a “routine” that doesn’t particularly pay attention to the time zone you’re in.

These seats are nice and big – enough so that you appreciate the pillows they give you, because there really isn’t an arm rest. Instead of reclining back onto the people behind you like most seats, they slide forward like those “close to the wall” Lazy-Boy’s that were all the rage a few years ago. There’s a shelf with a little cushion that’s just right for a foot rest.

When it’s bedtime, you just watch the little video on how to turn down your bed (not any more complicated than the typical sleeper sofa) and there’s a “sheet” made in the shape of the bed (that footrest becomes an integral part of your sleeping area) and a nice heavy blankie that would make a great nap blanket should it happen to fall into one’s luggage on the way home.  I suspect they count them, though.

Just before dimming the lights, they come by and give everyone little sleep masks and a packet that I thought was going to have toiletries – surprise – it’s bedroom slippers! Turns out the toothbrush, razor, etc. are in drawers in the bathrooms in little individual packets.

Movies until sleep, which wasn’t too hard since it’d been a long day for us.

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