Departures and Arrivals

Sunday, Oct 14
Left San Francisco, going through Tokyo. Flying business class is incredible; unfortunately, I don't think I'll ever be able to fly coach again! Besides great food (except for that belgian chocolate dessert that mysteriously disappeared while I was sleeping) and lots of leg room, I also had access to United's Red Carpet Lounge, which meant that I was able to actually take a shower during my layover in Tokyo! I needed it, though; Japan's security is so tight that they made us deplane, take all of our belongings, and go back through Japanese security when we touched down (even though we were on the same plane, same seats and everything, on to Bangkok). This means that they told me that I could not replane with the huge bottle of Grey Goose vodka that I had bought in Duty-Free in San Fran for my firnd Nils and his wife. I was a shade perturbed. Needless to say, I poured it out and pouted about it. But the shower helped....

Getting off the plane in Bangkok was like having someone throw a hot, wet washcloth onto my head. Humid, hot, and that was at 11:00 pm! This place is like a sauna much of the time. But it wa an easy cab ride to the hotel, the room was clean, bathroom had a real toilet (don't EVEN get me started on toilet stories!), and it was a blessing to go to sleep after being in the air plus layover for about 20 hours.