Blogging from 34,000 feet while in full recline with my feet up. There is no other way to say this - travelling in the first class cabin of a 747 is hands down the best way to travel internationally. Once again, thank you United miles.
The spoiling began in the airport where we had exclusive people only access to the United First lounge, which is apparently different from a typical United Club. With marble bathrooms and shower rooms, a full breakfast buffet with everything from sushi to baked goods to a fully stocked open bar, we started the morning off right! For those of you worried about my clashing outfit in this fancy place, no worries - I substituted my green fleece for a black one, and I'm definitely not the only one rocking yoga pants. Not much I can do at this point about the pink socks. They seemed like a good idea a few months ago.
Enter the 747 - a
behemoth of a plane. We were the first
to board and like the geeks we are, started taking pictures of everything and
pushing all of the buttons on our seat pods.
Damon was very worried by our uncouthness until the other passengers
started doing the selfie thing right alongside us. Our cabin only has 12 seats in it and we are literally in the nose of the plane. The pilots are two flights above us and behind us. Very strange. No clue what the rest of the plane looks like
- we really wanted to see the upstairs, but can't figure out where the stairs
are. They hand us five page menus, two gift sets (socks, toiletries, eye mask…)
each, we each have two big pillows, slippers and a faux down blanket. Plus a large personal tv filled with movies,
games, audio books and more.
Little bit (a LOT)
of turbulence in the first few hours.
Nothing more reassuring that having announcements every half hour for
the flight attendants to sit down and buckle up when you are in the over nothing but water. Thank goodness by hour 3 or
4 it was all over and we had a really smooth ride the rest of the time.
Our first meal
(lunch) in the air was an 8 course meal - warm nuts, rolls, sushi plate, egg
roll and coconut chicken skewer, soup, salad, filet mignon with gnocchi and
asparagus and a make your own ice cream sundae.
Which was awesome right before 2 hours of pretty rough on and off turbulence... We've had snack baskets and drinks and are awaiting our breakfast in an
hour or so.
I couldn't tell you what
time it is - the cabin is "night" - lights have been off for most of
the flight and the window shades have been closed the entire trip, but it is
daylight outside (I peeked). I think it
is 12:30pm right now in Tokyo and 9:30pm in Chicago. So far I've watched two movies, read a book
and have thoroughly enjoyed lounging with my feet up for the past 9 hours - only 2 hours to
go! I am well hydrated and have probably
broken a new bio break record as I should hit six visits to the loo by the time
we land. I'll confess that I like to go
there because they have Philosophy brand hydrating spray and it is refreshing
to douse my face every hour or two.
Sadly, the first class lav is pretty much the same as any other plane
lav, if it had refreshing hydrating spray.
So I describe this
experience in such detail not to be snooty, but because I want to remember the sheer bliss of it
while it is happening since our Tokyo to Auckland leg will be slightly less
luxurious as we join the masses back in economy for the overnight 11 hour leg
of this long haul.
Oh yeah, one more
interesting tidbit… in first class, they make you wear a shoulder belt in
addition to the lap belt for take-off and landing. Not sure what that is all about - makes me
wonder what I'm missing in coach…
Hopefully my next
post will not be at 4am when I can't sleep, but only time will tell.
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