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Published: April 12th 2009
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Wednesday, April 8th, 2009
I am spoiled. I will never be able to fly again! Unless I fly business class, that is. I boarded Northwest flight 7 from Seattle to Narita, Tokyo and discovered paradise in flight. The world business class. Home of seats two inches wider and four feet from the row in front. Enough room for my knees and legs even if I were to completely extend them! You have no idea the comfort of that compared to being crammed into coach where my knees hit the seat in front and I have to sit with my knees spread to either side, especially if the person sitting in front were to inconsiderately put their seat back to sleep. Business class is heaven when you are 6 feet tall.
How was I so fortunate to be able to enjoy the business class accommodations? Well, it was all thanks to a friend of a friend, a flight attendant. I was able to fly standby for less than a 10th of the internet price of over 5 thousand dollars. Standby was a new experience for me. I wasn’t given a seat assignment until a half an hour before boarding. There
was always that fear that I wasn’t going to be able to get on the plane. But, I was the first on board. There is no waiting in business class.
As soon as I was seated I was offered a choice of champagne, orange juice or water. And refills were given automatically without delay. After a 4 course dinner, I settled in with my quilt, pillow and my private touch screen helpfully unlatched from its hidden compartment by the Japanese man in the seat next to mine. I stayed awake watching the people around me. It was funny to see business people interspersed with people wearing jeans and flannel shirts. I watched “Marley and me”, “The day the earth stood still” and “Quantum of solace” before breakfast. The 10 hour flight in business class and the food was a treat.
I had no forms to fill out and no boarding pass for the next lag of my journey: NW flight 27 from Narita to Shanghai. Somehow I managed to get through security despite this and the language barrier. I guess the word “standby” crosses the divide.
On April 10th, I wandered the Narita airport and then settled
in at the gate for the 2 hour layover. I waited for Tracy, the flight attendant friend, who had left me a message that she would be wearing a gray dress. There were at least 3 Asian women wearing gray dresses, so I waited. I watched the red sun sink below the HSBC crate or something and into the horizon. And I waited. That wait had me wondering if I would even be able to get on board. I finally received my boarding pass 3 minutes prior to boarding.
On board I settled into seat 1J, and finally met Tracy as she stopped by my seat to check on me and introduce herself before making her way to her seat towards the back of the business class cabin. I met Brandon, an executive from OnStar wearing pajamas and telling me to hit him if he started to snore as he collapsed into the seat next to mine as I sipped my orange juice. I guess OnStar will be expanding into China. I have to wonder how that will work. The Chinese 110 system isn’t quite as efficient as our 911; there are no paramedics or EMTs in their ambulances.
One last meal on board and we were given our Chinese immigration slips. I suddenly realized I didn’t have MT and J’s address with me! I admit I panicked. Then shrugged, oh well. I fell asleep about 2 AM our time. I slept for about an hour before landing at 8:50 or so local time. Tracy put her address on my slip and I made it through immigration. Once through, Tracy and I collected our checked luggage and I met several of her flight attendant friends. The customs guys don’t seem to do more than stand around near the x-ray machine looking intimidating while eating lunch. I’ve never seen them pull anyone aside to be searched.
Outside the terminal we waited for our car and driver. And waited. Tracy called him twice as we stood in the warm, smoggy night air with her friend and her friend’s Cantonese boyfriend. Finally a silver van pulled up and we piled in the luggage. Off we drove towards Shanghai. We took some crazy, bumpy, twisty local roads to Tracy’s apartment. I said a heartfelt thank you and handed her a card with $500 for my airfare (an extra $10just because).
I finally arrived at MT and J’s new house just up the street from the Jing’an temple. A much nicer and more cultural neighborhood, though I wouldn’t discover that until the sun came up the next day. The driver walked me to the door and rang the bell twice before MT answered with a hug. Zoey never even barked, she saw me and dived for her stuffed quail before greeting me happily at the door. The kids were in bed and I was exhausted. I took a quick shower in the master bath after saying a sleepy hello to J. I wearily climbed the 4 flights of stairs to my room and collapsed onto my lovely air mattress, closed the curtains and was out like a light.
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