Flight to Singapore

The Flight

It started out well Friday morning - getting up at 6 AM after finishing packing at 4 AM to head to the Bolt Bus. The bus arrived in NY just in time for me to catch the 8:09 LIRR to Jamaica and from there to JFK. I was surprised to learn that the first leg of my flight - from JFK to Tokyo - would arrive an hour early! What a pleasant surprise. ANA was the carrier for that leg. I've never heard of or flown with ANA, and so was a bit wary of spending 12 hours on one of its planes. It turned out I had nothing to worry about. The plane's interior appeared relatively new (or very well kept) and the service was better than I could have expected (not once did I see any of the flight attendants or pilots not smile...it was contagious). It was also a big plus that we were able to choose among a selection of movies - most of which were recently released, e.g., Tron, Town, etc. The high res map tracking the plane's flight confirmed that we were indeed chugging along despite the seemingly constant sky outside the window.

Moon, just 30,000 feet closer

12 hours later, we landed in Tokyo an hour earlier as promised.
  

What I saw when I opened the stall at the Tokyo airport.

3 hours later, I was boarded on a United flight (leaving an hour earlier than scheduled due to our early arrival into Tokyo) for Singapore. By this time, I was already jet lagged and dozing in and out. As soon as I sat down in my seat, I was asleep. I woke up when the pilot went on the PA to announce that our takeoff would be delayed 15 minutes because the cargo door wouldn't close...then I dozed off again...only to be awaken by the pilot again saying sorry for the delay but at least "now" we should have enough fuel to get to Singapore (say what!). Once again, I fell asleep and once again, the pilot went on the PA to say sorry for the delay...this time I fell asleep too fast to hear why. We arrived 2 hours late. ANA 1, United 0.

After 24 hours and over 10k miles - Singapore. Here's a pic from the hostel I'm staying at. More to come.