I start the 26 hour journey to Singapore today. Actually I drove to the airport last night and spent the night at a hotel. I didn’t really want to but my flight was early and I didn’t want Cindy to have to get up and drive me. Besides, she’s been feeling a little sick and she needs to get some rest. I’m going to really miss her this week – I miss her already.
My day started around 6am with the alarm clock ringing in my ears…and then my cell phone alarm…and then the wake up call from the front desk. I wanted to make sure I didn’t over sleep! I didn’t. Once out of the bed and out of the shower, I dressed and quickly ran downstairs to grab something to eat before catching the hotel shuttle to the airport.
I’m flying United out of Roanoke. I tried to get all my seats through to Singapore but they weren’t able to get them for me. Well, I got everything except Chicago to Narita. There was not much available. I could upgrade to Economy Plus (a few extra inches) for another $220 for that leg of the flight but all they had left were middle seats. The United counter attendant told me that my chances of getting upgraded to Economy Plus were very good on that leg anyway because it looks like that’s all they have left. So, why pay the extra bucks when I’m going to get it anyway.
The flight was Roanoke to Chicago O’Hare. This is a really busy place and the international terminal is about the only place I know here. This leg of the flight was only 2 hours and I have a 1.5 hour layover here – McDonalds here I come. My next flight is a long one – Chicago to Narita, Japan. I love that airport and I have a three hour layover there…so I’ll write from Japan but it will be a while.
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I left O’Hare at 10:38pm and arrived early into Narita/Tokyo – 2:30pm. It was a good trip – food wasn’t too bad. They told me I didn’t have a Boarding Pass for this leg of the trip so when I checked in at the gate, the United guy told me he was giving me a really good seat – and it was. Turns out, when I got off the plane here in Narita, they DID issue me a boarding pass in Roanoke. They just didn’t realize it. So, I had two boarding passes for 2 different seats on the plane – both of which were really good.
I’ve been up now for almost 24 hours. And I still have about 10 hours left on my flight. My layover in Narita is a little longer because we made such good time. My flight leaves at 5:40pm and arrives in Singapore at 11:55pm. To make the time go by faster, I’ve been reading Jim Steinmeyer’s book on William Robinson called THE GLORIOUS DECEPTION. It’s very good – some really incredible magic history but also a very intriguing story about this guy’s life in magic, vaudeville, show business, etc.
I’m going to go find some food!