…late afternoon for our late lunch on rue Cler.
And fully sunny today. Apparently it’s been 3 weeks of bad weather here.
In the lounge in CDG airport, about to fly back (in biz). Sweet. Especially after the priority checking, emigration and security.
The service and food were significantly better on the Air France flight (biz class) yesterday.
Staying in the Marais in the 4th arrondissement. Walked to dinner at a patio table on a cute little square, followed by a long walk through the 4th and back along the Seine.
Through Place des Vosges, and past, or views of, Pompidou, Les Balled, Eiffel Tower (lit up) and Notre Dame.
Also got to see the outside of the building where Susan used to live.
And some of the tour boats on the river have floodlights (to illuminate buildings) that would put stadiums to shame.
Nice little food spread and open bar. Terrible wifi as it comes from the main concourse.
Wow, the United service (in economy plus) was pretty marginal on this 6.5 hour flight from SIN-NRT. I think my flight attendant was having a bad day 
Skipped the lesser United Club (big lineup to get in) which is right after the international transfer security checkpoint, and went straight to the ANA (*A Gold) lounge, which is much nicer, less crowded and with better food and drink selection (although no windows). I should have done this on my way back from Seoul last fall!
I have about an hour and a half to kill in here before I need to board the next leg to SFO.
Fast internet connection in here.
I’m going to upload some photos from Singapore – I was organizing and reducing resolution on the best ones during the flight (an ongoing process – I did that on the MRT and bus yesterday too). At least until I depleted my netbook battery, that is.
After a painful 4:30 alarm clock (and only 3.5 hours sleep), I awoke to pouring rain. The taxi ride was quick with no traffic (about 20 minutes and only S$23/US$19 from Little India).
My taxi driver spoke the local pigeon English – I could only understand a third of what he said. I had read about this language mix, but it’s the first time I really encountered it.
The rain was done by the time we arrived at the airport.
A 3-flight, 28 hour itin today. and only the last and smallest leg upgraded.
I’ll be trying to post more photos and stories during the trip… physically it’s pretty much over, but much left to catch up on the blog.
The Singapore Airlines *A Gold lounge is nice. I’m pretty sure it’s nicer than the nearby contract lounge that UA tries to send you to.
After a painful 4:45 alarm. Gotta like 4 hours of sleep. Upgraded on 3 of 4 legs. Watched “we bought a zoo” – predictable but cute – and a good episode of Suits.
Also finally started reading HK history. Didn’t realize that the British got the Chinese addicted to opium (from India) and won HK as a result of the opium war of 1840.
I experienced 2 very different airport lounges in Tokyo, one in each direction, as a Star Alliance gold member).
Frankly, I was disappointed that I didn’t get to go back to the Asiana lounge on my 6 hour layover coming back westbound.
Sitting in lounge in SFO, catching up on Seoul blog.
Managed 2.5 hours of light sleep in lounge in Guam.
Also slept lightly most of the way on the 5 hour overnight HNL-SFO leg.
So I’m feeling ok, despite having been travelling for 41 hours already.
Side note on upgrades:
I didn’t get upgraded HNL-SFO, though surprisingly there were no 1K status folk above me on the list – with one exception, they were same level as me (Star Alliance Gold) but must have been travelling on higher fare classes (not surprisingly, given my cheap ticket). So there is hope yet for when I hit 1K status.
I did get upgraded on both SFO-ORD-YYZ legs a few days ago, which is surprising (though it was an expensive ticket). Now I see there at least 11 people on the upgrade list for SFO-ORD and only 2 seats left in first class for them.
50 hour door-to-door trip with 6 legs: ICN-NRT-GUM-HNL-SFO-ORD-YYZ
Major ouch!
(And yes, there is a non-stop flight from Seoul to Toronto on Air Canada, but that’s besides the point)
Currently I’m sitting in Tokyo’s Narita airport (NRT) in the United Club lounge for this 6 hour layover.
Which isn’t nearly as fancy as the Asian lounge I used in NRT on the way to Seoul last week. In fact it is similar to the ones in the US, but with a much smaller (self-serve) bar. Slightly newer feel to it Noticeably missing is Bailey’s (for my coffee).
When I first arrived in the lounge, it was very full. It’s quite large, but that’s a lot of people. Now (at 18:30 local time) it’s almost deserted – I can see maybe 20 people. Strange. At least the wi-fi is running at a reasonable speed again.
Also while I was sitting here, the guy next to me (we had been chatting about flights) suddenly says “enjoy your flight” – it turns out there was another (Continental-operated) flight to Guam 3.5 hours before my flight to Guam. Perhaps I could have gone stand-by (since my bags are checked through to San Francisco anyways) and gotten some sleep in a hotel there; I checked the flight status seating map on my phone and there were no seats left; in fact, there was one person still on the standby list). Besides, then I wouldn’t have been in a nice Economy Plus seat for the 3.5 hour flight.
Side note: for international connections at NRT, you pass through a security check after deplaning, and there were actually 3 x-ray machines for Star Alliance Gold passengers, and only one for regular passengers. Yeah (since I’m in the former category)!
After enjoying the better than average business lounge at NRT, and then sleeping most of the almost 3hr flight from Tokyo to Seoul (the flight was pretty empty so I had 3 seats to myself, which is how many seats I need to lie down comfortably), and an easy train+subway ride into town to my hostel in the Sinchon university district, now I’m feeling pretty awake.
Earlier today I booked my DMZ tour for Friday, and just now I booked a ticket for tomorrow night’s performance of JUMP, a slapstick martial arts show highly recommended in my guidebook.