Toronto to Tokyo
Sun 19 Jun 2011 12:04:19 EDT
I'm on my way to Bangkok again for the King's Cup, a little more tired than usual less than a week after the end of the big event of the Canadian Scrabble year, the 2011 Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship. I got my frequent flyer upgrade to Air Canada Executive First class for the 12-hour flight to Tokyo Narita airport, and I'm expecting to spend a good chunk of that time sound asleep in my cubicle (ovoidal?). I persuaded the cab driver to let me off at the near end of YYZ Terminal 1, where the unsigned priority checkin section masquerades behind the domestic departures sign at curbside. I almost lined up at regular security before remembering the existence of the priority lane. I enjoyed being whisked along by the high-speed ThyssenKrupp moving walkway, a good description of which can be found at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_walkway .
I'm finally starting to unwind a little while I wait here in the Maple Leaf Lounge. Everything is blandly, modernly familiar, except that they have changed the pasta menu, that had gone unchanged for years and years. The replacement is actually an improvement (four-cheese in striped spinach agnolotti, and mushroom ravioli), but the change is jarring. Even more alarmingly, the signage at the buffet looks suspiciously temporary, and the dishes are labelled "menu du jour". Will there be a different dish each time I pass through here?!
Time to catch up on email and phone calls before the first flight.
Sun 19 Jun 2011 14:59:01 EDT
Boarding is delayed somewhat, as the flight is carrying at least 90% Japanese passengers, none of whom can understand the idea that Air Canada has (1) overbooked the flight by one seat (how can they not know how many seats they've sold and match that to the number of available seats?!) and (2) would like one of them to accept $500 to be bumped to tomorrow's flight (how could someone have so much slack in their personal schedule that they don't care what day they fly?!). Eventually, a non-Japanese passenger is located to accept the offer, and we can board. As I'm heading for the first-class cabin line, a cheery little voice shouts hello - Sasha, one of Jamie's old Hakobune classmates will be flying on the same flight, and has lined up with her mom in the travelling-with-small-children line.
I accept a preflight glass of champagne, and am then first fascinated, then annoyed, then mortified when a shower of extremely fine grained Puerto Morelos beach sand falls out while I stow the sandals I was thinking of wearing in flight and lands in the champagne (ooh, what excellent nucleation sites the sand offers, such effervescence), rendering it undrinkable (hey, I can't fly without champagne!) as well as landing on my neighbours complimentary in-flight amenities kit (oh, the embarrassment, I knew I should have brought that USB vacuum cleaner that Momoha's dad gave me, I'll never travel without it again!)
As far as the amenities in the pod go, they're generally the same as my last flight in this class, but I'm glad to see that they've responded to my complaints (and presumably others') and found a source for Sennheiser headphone foam ear covers that actually fit the headphone earpieces. I'll take the sockettes, toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, etc. and add them to our guest amenities collection back home.
I'm a little miffed that my electrical outlet isn't working, but it's not the end of the world. The USB outlet is working, and has fully charged my iPhone. I've still got five hours' power left on my MacBookPro battery, and the chief of flight service has kindly offered to find a place to charge it back to full when I go to bed.
A flight attendant comes by and lays out a cloth napkin for me to use as a tablecloth to begin the first meal service. I was torn, but eventually decided the Japanese menu would be too heavy for me, as I wasn't in the mood for beef. Instead I had the "Sauteed Alaskan Black Cod complemented by Lemon Butter, Spinach Risotto, Green Beans and glazed Baby Carrots". It was a little bland at altitude, but well prepared. I preferred the appetizers: "Smoked Atlantic Salmon with Cucumber Carpaccio, Dill Mustard Sauce and Capers" and "Organic Field Greens, Grape Tomatoes and Parmesan with Balsamic Vinaigrette". I've been a fan of in-flight smoked salmon ever since I used to get it regularly from German catering services when flying Frankfurt-Toronto; the thin air dilutes most flavours, but the umami and texture of the salmon are reliable. I declined the cheese plate and chocolate pecan tart, but am thinking about ordering ice cream.
Or maybe dim sum. I like the idea of on demand dim sum even better than on demand video. Speaking of which, I watched Cedar Rapids, a movie about a mid-Western insurance salesman who has his eyes opened at a convention: it was sweet and funny, and I only fell asleep a few times. Next up after I answer some offline Gmail will be either Limitless or Rango, whichever I think I *can* more easily sleep through, as the lights have been dimmed and all around me I hear the gentle snores of my cabinmates.
I'm having a good time so far, the stress of preparing for the trip is gone, the frenetic excitement of Bangkok is still almost a day away, and I've got nothing to do now but enjoy the ride!
Mon 20 Jun 2011 03:47:27 EDT
I'm at my favourite airline lounge, the ANA business lounge at NRT. Someday I have to find a way into the ANA first class lounge here, but not anytime soon, as it will spoil this place for me.
I watched about half of Limitless before I got bored with the idea of a movie about a writer who takes experimental drugs to boost his intelligence, then behaves stupidly. I handed over my MacBook Pro to the chief of flight service for charging, then put on Rango and tried to get some sleep. Bad mistake: it's an amazing film. At first, I was only watching it to see if my boys would like it. I'm still not sure, as I was too enthralled by what I liked about it to think about watching it through their eyes. I ordered dim sum and ramen in lieu of popcorn and had a great time. It's by far the best animated psychedelic ILM western starring Johnny Depp that I've ever seen, and I'll probably watch it again on the way home.
Eventually, as my normal bedtime approached, I was able to sleep for I think 2-3 hours, woke up for breakfast (congee with a really good variety of pickled seafood) and proceeded without incident through security (no passport control for international connections). I doublechecked that the reason I can't use a Star Alliance upgrade on my flight to Bangkok is the fare class, not just that the request has to be in 24-48 hours before flight time to allow for AC and NH to account for the transfer of miles.
I then headed here to the ANA lounge to refresh myself for my next flight. I showered, used a massage chair for 15 minutes, and helped myself to miso soup, futomaki and inari-zushi from the buffet. I feel at this point the way I do after following up a long day at a Thai crossword game tournament with a late-night visit to a spa, which is to say a little tired but otherwise comfortable. I think I'll skip the noodle and sake bars here in favour of a little more sushi, then check my email before getting ready to board the next flight.
I'm on my way to Bangkok again for the King's Cup, a little more tired than usual less than a week after the end of the big event of the Canadian Scrabble year, the 2011 Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship. I got my frequent flyer upgrade to Air Canada Executive First class for the 12-hour flight to Tokyo Narita airport, and I'm expecting to spend a good chunk of that time sound asleep in my cubicle (ovoidal?). I persuaded the cab driver to let me off at the near end of YYZ Terminal 1, where the unsigned priority checkin section masquerades behind the domestic departures sign at curbside. I almost lined up at regular security before remembering the existence of the priority lane. I enjoyed being whisked along by the high-speed ThyssenKrupp moving walkway, a good description of which can be found at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_walkway .
I'm finally starting to unwind a little while I wait here in the Maple Leaf Lounge. Everything is blandly, modernly familiar, except that they have changed the pasta menu, that had gone unchanged for years and years. The replacement is actually an improvement (four-cheese in striped spinach agnolotti, and mushroom ravioli), but the change is jarring. Even more alarmingly, the signage at the buffet looks suspiciously temporary, and the dishes are labelled "menu du jour". Will there be a different dish each time I pass through here?!
Time to catch up on email and phone calls before the first flight.
Sun 19 Jun 2011 14:59:01 EDT
Boarding is delayed somewhat, as the flight is carrying at least 90% Japanese passengers, none of whom can understand the idea that Air Canada has (1) overbooked the flight by one seat (how can they not know how many seats they've sold and match that to the number of available seats?!) and (2) would like one of them to accept $500 to be bumped to tomorrow's flight (how could someone have so much slack in their personal schedule that they don't care what day they fly?!). Eventually, a non-Japanese passenger is located to accept the offer, and we can board. As I'm heading for the first-class cabin line, a cheery little voice shouts hello - Sasha, one of Jamie's old Hakobune classmates will be flying on the same flight, and has lined up with her mom in the travelling-with-small-children line.
I accept a preflight glass of champagne, and am then first fascinated, then annoyed, then mortified when a shower of extremely fine grained Puerto Morelos beach sand falls out while I stow the sandals I was thinking of wearing in flight and lands in the champagne (ooh, what excellent nucleation sites the sand offers, such effervescence), rendering it undrinkable (hey, I can't fly without champagne!) as well as landing on my neighbours complimentary in-flight amenities kit (oh, the embarrassment, I knew I should have brought that USB vacuum cleaner that Momoha's dad gave me, I'll never travel without it again!)
As far as the amenities in the pod go, they're generally the same as my last flight in this class, but I'm glad to see that they've responded to my complaints (and presumably others') and found a source for Sennheiser headphone foam ear covers that actually fit the headphone earpieces. I'll take the sockettes, toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, etc. and add them to our guest amenities collection back home.
I'm a little miffed that my electrical outlet isn't working, but it's not the end of the world. The USB outlet is working, and has fully charged my iPhone. I've still got five hours' power left on my MacBookPro battery, and the chief of flight service has kindly offered to find a place to charge it back to full when I go to bed.
A flight attendant comes by and lays out a cloth napkin for me to use as a tablecloth to begin the first meal service. I was torn, but eventually decided the Japanese menu would be too heavy for me, as I wasn't in the mood for beef. Instead I had the "Sauteed Alaskan Black Cod complemented by Lemon Butter, Spinach Risotto, Green Beans and glazed Baby Carrots". It was a little bland at altitude, but well prepared. I preferred the appetizers: "Smoked Atlantic Salmon with Cucumber Carpaccio, Dill Mustard Sauce and Capers" and "Organic Field Greens, Grape Tomatoes and Parmesan with Balsamic Vinaigrette". I've been a fan of in-flight smoked salmon ever since I used to get it regularly from German catering services when flying Frankfurt-Toronto; the thin air dilutes most flavours, but the umami and texture of the salmon are reliable. I declined the cheese plate and chocolate pecan tart, but am thinking about ordering ice cream.
Or maybe dim sum. I like the idea of on demand dim sum even better than on demand video. Speaking of which, I watched Cedar Rapids, a movie about a mid-Western insurance salesman who has his eyes opened at a convention: it was sweet and funny, and I only fell asleep a few times. Next up after I answer some offline Gmail will be either Limitless or Rango, whichever I think I *can* more easily sleep through, as the lights have been dimmed and all around me I hear the gentle snores of my cabinmates.
I'm having a good time so far, the stress of preparing for the trip is gone, the frenetic excitement of Bangkok is still almost a day away, and I've got nothing to do now but enjoy the ride!
Mon 20 Jun 2011 03:47:27 EDT
I'm at my favourite airline lounge, the ANA business lounge at NRT. Someday I have to find a way into the ANA first class lounge here, but not anytime soon, as it will spoil this place for me.
I watched about half of Limitless before I got bored with the idea of a movie about a writer who takes experimental drugs to boost his intelligence, then behaves stupidly. I handed over my MacBook Pro to the chief of flight service for charging, then put on Rango and tried to get some sleep. Bad mistake: it's an amazing film. At first, I was only watching it to see if my boys would like it. I'm still not sure, as I was too enthralled by what I liked about it to think about watching it through their eyes. I ordered dim sum and ramen in lieu of popcorn and had a great time. It's by far the best animated psychedelic ILM western starring Johnny Depp that I've ever seen, and I'll probably watch it again on the way home.
Eventually, as my normal bedtime approached, I was able to sleep for I think 2-3 hours, woke up for breakfast (congee with a really good variety of pickled seafood) and proceeded without incident through security (no passport control for international connections). I doublechecked that the reason I can't use a Star Alliance upgrade on my flight to Bangkok is the fare class, not just that the request has to be in 24-48 hours before flight time to allow for AC and NH to account for the transfer of miles.
I then headed here to the ANA lounge to refresh myself for my next flight. I showered, used a massage chair for 15 minutes, and helped myself to miso soup, futomaki and inari-zushi from the buffet. I feel at this point the way I do after following up a long day at a Thai crossword game tournament with a late-night visit to a spa, which is to say a little tired but otherwise comfortable. I think I'll skip the noodle and sake bars here in favour of a little more sushi, then check my email before getting ready to board the next flight.