Asia 2014: SEA-NRT

I begin my trip to Asia today aboard Boeing's finest, a 787-8 Dreamliner. Bored after suffering through a tiny fraction of my 17-hour flight to Thailand, I've decided to keep you all informed by recording each and every detail of my flight. Well, more or less...

A multi-function remote control rests in a cavity in the seat in front of me. Detaching it, I realize that it's connected to a retractable cable to prevent loss or theft. Nifty. On one side the controller is a basic remote for navigating my personal touch screen display. On the other side is a video game controller. This may be the single coolest feature of the 787. I spend a good hour playing Tetris and some caveman game, temporarily transported from reality into virtual reality. I would play longer, but suddenly it's mealtime. Food always comes first.

ANA flight attendants move down the aisles, smiling while pushing their food carts along. They offer me beer or wine and I decline, knowing that a beer or two this early in the journey will only add to my exhaustion. Later, I tell myself. I'll drink plenty of Sapporo on the second leg of my trip, from Tokyo to Bangkok. For now I'll order Japanese green tea to soothe my throat and keep me awake.

"Japanese style meal or Western style" the Japanese flight attendant asks. She tells me that the former option is a noodle dish, and the latter is salmon. Only she pronounces the "L" in salmon. "I'll have the salmon" I say, emphasizing the silence of the letter. She doesn't understand. "The sal-mon" I say again, this time pronouncing the "L". She nods and hands me a tray of airplane food.

Airplane food is strange. You expect it to be horrible, and it often is, but sometimes it surprises you. My meal turns out to be pretty darn tasty. The tray it arrives on is presented like a bento box, with little individual compartments containing different foods. I open the largest of the boxes expecting sal-mon and find only pasta - rotini noodles with tomato sauce, olives, and broccoli. What the hell? This looks good, but where's my fish? I take a few bites. Not bad. Then it hits me: the sal-mon is beneath the pasta. I eat it all and move on to the sides.

Apparently ANA's definition of "Western meal" is such that anything goes, provided that the food has origins somewhere west of Japan. Which includes practically every place on planet earth. Pacific Northwest salmon smothered in Italian pasta. A side salad complete with lettuce, crab salad, two pieces of chicken, peppers, and, in the same container but separated by a tiny barrier, two balls of mozzarella swimming in pesto sauce with a single sun-dried tomato. Perplexed, I eat the crab salad and peppers, pushing the chicken aside. I open my roll and use it to scoop up a cheese ball and some pesto, Italian style. Not bad, Japan. Weird, but I'll take it.

I decide mid-meal that this is a perfect photo opportunity. I'll just snap a quick pic of my bento box and add it to this blog post later. I reach beneath the seat in front of me and grasp my bag. Rummaging through it, I find my camera and pull it out. It won't turn on. That's odd, I think, since I charged the battery this morning. The battery. I open the battery compartment and find it empty. Crap. Hopefully that battery made it into my checked bag. I won't know till I get to Bangkok tomorrow. Maybe I'll buy a mirrorless camera from a vending machine at Narita airport after all.

When I finish my meal the attendant comes along again, this time offering personal-size Vanilla Haggen-Daaz ice cream. Unable to say no to beer AND ice cream, I happily accept. The ice cream is frozen solid and absolutely delicious.

After lunch, I turn my attention back to the in-flight display. It offers a variety of movies including several that I've been meaning to see, such as 12 Years A Slave. I make a mental note to watch it later. There's still plenty of time - two hours down, eight to go. I explore more entertainment possibilities and notice that seat-to-seat messaging is an option. So if my friend were seated across the plane we could communicate. Or I could send a message to the attractive young lady in 22G. It's always nice to have options.

According to the flight status monitor we are traveling at 551mph at an altitude of 40,000 feet. Six hours till Tokyo.

Somehow, despite my best efforts to assign myself an aisle seat online, I ended up in the middle. The woman in the window seat next to me says that she needs to use the restroom. We've been sitting next to each other for nearly four hours and haven't spoken till now. I turn to the Japanese man in the coveted aisle seat to my left and pass the woman's message along. He shuffles in his seat for a long minute, tossing stuff aside and flipping up his dining tray without a word. I take the opportunity to stretch my legs. Upon returning to my seat the man grunts with exasperation and moves aside once more. She thanks me. He says nothing. I sit down and write about it, glancing from side to side every so often to make sure they're not reading along. They aren't. 

Two and a half years ago I spent a couple months traveling around Turkey. Since then I haven't done any long term travel. I could only drool over friends' travel photos for so long before hatching a getaway plan of my own. Unfortunately, I was out of money. When I returned from Turkey, I made a New Years resolution to learn how to "travel hack" (Google it) and earn free flights. It paid off.

 

This flight cost me $17.20 in taxes. I used frequent flyer points to pay my fare, saving hundreds of dollars. This is my first time taking advantage of FF points and I'm making out like a bandit. So far I've booked three flights totaling over 10,500 miles and I have spent $60. Seattle to Bangkok to Seoul to Tokyo for $60. I know this reads like a phony ad, but I'm serious!

Anyways, I've now arrived at Tokyo Narita airport and am awaiting my connection to Bangkok. To be continued...