If I had known Melanie was going to ask me to do this, I would’ve paid more attention.
It has been ten months since we were last here. Last time NWA only charged 60,000 miles each. What a bargain. This time it cost twice as many miles for one ticket (“rule-buster” option) and a ridiculous amount of $ for the second. (>2000). I think we’re competing with all those flying over for the Olympics. There were about 5 families on our Detroit to Tokyo plane coming over to see family members compete.
Sue made the mistake of ordering vegetarian. Very little was edible.
In the days before computerized seating they used to make an announcement on the speaker system asking for “passenger smith who ordered the .____meal to please identify himself”. I think it was comedian Don Rickels or David Steinberg who used to spoof: “Will the Jew who ordered the kosher meal please stand up”.
Sitting in the last few rows of the 747 (ancient, without indivdual TV screens) allows us to take advantage of the plane’s narrowing and to not have strangers on any side. Unsociable we are. (Seating pattern is 3-4-3, but in the back it’s 2-4-2). Plus, I have extra foot space AND an extra foot of space on the side of my window seat to leave my trashed NYT, NewYorker, BusWeek and WSJ articles. I’m slowly catching up. Not really. Flight attendant was one of the best ever. Always smiling and offering stuff—like extra wrapped cookies from other’s trays. When she saw me reading a dental journal she said it looked familiar—her husband’s a dentist in Colorado.
Two hour layover in Tokyo. Olympics on all the TV’s. Boarded A330 aircraft for Singapore. Much more modern—but I didn’t watch any of the movies.. 2-4-2 pattern throughout. We always try to get one of the “two’s”. Though it almost 1 a.m local time, Melanie’s smiling face greeted us through the glass partition of the luggage claim. Our eyes watered. Mostly Sue’s.
Matt was also up! Both will only get a few hours sleep before work/school.
I still need 2 bags (Sue’s down to one). I had so much room in bag #2 that I shlepped my fins. And extra bridge (card game) reading. I’ve been playing lots of duplicate with friend Clarke C.
Great night of sleep, then walked the somewhat familiar East Coast Park waterfront. Cheap tasty hawker food. Taxied to Mel’s school. Very impressive. Souvenier hat—I’ll wear it @ Michigania next year. Ask me…
We walked and snacked. In a restaurant/food court setting we watched Table tennis match—Singapore ladies team made the finals. It was like watching the Tigers or Lions at the Lodge back home. Lots of cheering and hometown crowd spirit.
Met Matt for drink and view from 70th floor of Swisotel. Impressive. Yummy Laksa for dinner and trek to claim some Levain cookies (it’s another long story).
Today we leave for Bali. Will be staying in 3 different locations. Mel has never been there. Matt has spent mucho time in Indonesia. I’m looking forward to relaxing, reading, snorkeling, etc.
Next time Mel, give me more warning.
Life is goo .
1 comment:
For someone doing this with no warning, I'd say you have a great future! You say that eyes misted (mostly Sue's) when you saw Mel; I can't think of a better reason -- to see your daughter after several months! Have a great time with the kids, and have them bring us INSEAD stuff, too (hear that, Matt??)
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