The trip out

I've travelled several times on business in my career, though I've never truly been a "road warrior". I've also travelled to many places around the globe. However, my business trip to Jakarta represents two firsts for me - first time 've travelled internationally for business, and first time I've travelled to Asia. My itinerary for flying to Jakarta is:

• Phoenix to LAX
• LAX to Hong Kong
• Hong Kong to Jakarta

Phoenix to LAX:
I arrived on time for my flight out of Phoenix only to discover that while our plane was on time, the flight crew was late and the pilots would not be on time. Ravinder (the architect on my team who is travelling with me) and I grabbed a bite to eat and waited for the takeoff. We finally left Phoenix around 9:30 - our original departure time was Friday at 7:50 PM.

We arrived in LAX with just over an hour to catch our connecting flight. We had to walk about a mile from our arriving Terminal 1 to the Tom Bradley International terminal. After walking past it the first time, we found our check-in counter, showed our passports and began walking to the security line. That's when we discovered the line was about 400 people deep - and approximately a 2 hour wait. The status screens indicated our flight was boarding, so we were stuck. Luckily, an employee of Cathay Airways recognized we were running late and escorted us through the security line - which still took 20 minutes.

With a flight departure time of Friday 11:52 PM, my watch saying 11:40, a departure gate of 105 and us standing at 163 - we decided we needed to run. Luckily, we both wore running shoes. We arrived at our gate to see our New Orleans compatriots standing in line to board. Despite announcements to the contrary, the boarding process had not yet begun. At roughly midnight, we were comfortably aboard the plane and sipping the complimentary champagne.

LAX to Hong Kong

The estimated travel time for our flight is 14hr, 30 minutes, arriving in Hong Kong at 5 AM Sunday morning - where did Saturday go??? Trying to minimize the impact of jet lag and travel fatigue, I have planned to stay awake util 4 AM AZ (7 PM Jakarta) sleep for 6 hours, then stay awake until 8 or 9 PM in Jakarta so I can be fresh on Monday morning.

I remember from my trips to Paris that international coach was far superior to domestic coach. Now that I have flown international business class, I don't know that I'll ever be able to fly international coach again. For those of you who haven't flown business class internationally, here are some of the perks:

1) Seats that are like a craft-matic adjustable bed! You can sit in it like a La-Z-Boy or
fully recling it into a bed.
2) Free in-flight movies on demand
3) Actual linen napkins and silverware. Real glassware for drinks.
4) Hot towels 5-6 times throughout the flight.
5) A free toiletry bag full of stuff - sleeping mask, ear plugs, toothpaste, etc
6) And, of course, all you can drink.

I opt to watch two movies over my vegetarian dinner of rice pilaf and mushrooms. "300" - a story of how 300 Spartans held of a Persian army of tens of thousands, and "Black Book" - a Dutch movie of WWII intrigue. Both were very good.

I took a six hour nap, then watched "Fracture" - an EXCELLENT movie with Anthony Hopkins as a genius who almost gets away with killing his wife, and then Spiderman 3 - that I'm glad I didn't pay for.

Arriving in Hong Kong at 5 AM Sunday morning, the airport is empty. We wait until 6 AM and go to the Cathay Pacific business class lounge which allows me to get some refreshments, take a quick shower and post my first entry on this blog.

The airport is not what I expected, but, of course, it's also empty. The mountainous scenery
I can see out the airport windows make me wish it hadn't been pitch black when we arrived. I
don't see the infamous house boats, but I can definitely see the appeal of this city. I'd
like to come back.