Sunday, July 24, 2011

Goodbye Seattle!

This entry is brought to you from my iPad. Everything a blogger needs! Well okay, it COULD use built in satellite Internet so I could post directly from the plane (or anywhere in the world for that matter) but I'm not complaining. They've got to save something for the iPad 9 after all.



It's 3:30 Saturday afternoon and I'm heading out over the coast range marveling at how much snow there still is! Shortly we'll pop out over the pacific and start the long journey to Japan. The plane used for this leg is the Airbus A330. A very quiet plane. No lay-flat seats on this plane but I do get to try one out on the Japan to Hong Kong flight. I plan on doing a full review of this experience later.

As this 10 hour flight gets started the flight crew is working to get the goody parade started. When I first took my seat I received a bottle of water, a pair of slippers, a set of over the ear head phones, a toiletry bag with toothbrush, Chapstick, comb, socks, eye mask, etc, a big down blanket and a pillow! While I was getting settled I was offered orange juice, champaign or sparkling water. Since this is a big plane it takes over an hour to load it completely so I partook in the Orange juice.

Once we hit 10,000 feet the prep for dinner immediately begins. First I have to select my dinner...




As you can see there are quite a few choices. I'm kind of stuck on the chicken. It tastes good and it's good for ya! After that, a warm lemon scented wash cloth is offered for your hands and face. Here comes the warm nuts and in my case a whiskey coke. I have learned over the years that NOW is the time to visit the restroom because once the food comes it is a huge ordeal to get out of your seat.

The appetizers have arrived: soup, pork with a lemon sauce and a roll. We've now flown 590 miles... Just 4191 to go! Did I mention that it is a chilly minus 59 degrees outside? And here comes the turbulence. I think airplanes full of dining humans actually CAUSES rough air.

The salad just arrived and was quite good. It is strange to see on my map display that it is 8:00 am Sunday morning in Japan while I'm looking at 4:00 pm Saturday afternoon on my watch. We face a slight delay in the dinner show as we ride out some choppy air.

The main coarse of chicken with mushrooms, spaetzle, carrots and green beans has just arrived. I think it's worth mentioning that the menu refers to the green beans as "haricots verts?" Any of you fancy people want to help shed some light onto this?

I just finished an ice cream sundae for desert and a cup of black tea. 1100 miles down, and 3700 miles left to go. So, with 7 1/2 hours left of flying to Narita, Japan I bid you all goodbye for now.

No comments: