Thursday, July 16, 2009

Travel Tweet 1: In the air

This is obviously not a usual tweet. It’s more like tweeeeeeeeeettweeeeeeettweeeeeeet… :p

Oh yeah, I’m obviously in a holiday mood, and am so glad to be back in the business of writing. Providing short travel bites along the way helps me feel that you’re on the journey with me.. It also saves me from having to trace back 5 weeks worth of travel thoughts in one lengthy blog post. So here’s my first tweet, on what I did with my 18 hours of air time… :p

It’s my first ride on Japan Airlines, and I would definitely ride it again. Both flights were relatively smooth, and the service standards high. How can anyone resist pretty Japanese stewardesses who were always smiling, polite and so sincerely apologetic and hopeful when the entertainment system was down for about an hour.

The technical glitch provided some interesting reflections. I must confess that I was pretty upset that I could not start my movie. I tried almost every ten minutes to re-select my movie, only to realize that I wasn’t the jinx this time round. They had to reboot the entertainment system twice, and passengers were visibly a little frustrated. But there was really no other recourse than to wait, so i could only helplessly resign myself to patience management.

My frustration and impatience made me realize that as a passenger today, I had an underlying expectation to be entertained on my flight. I still brought my book, I could sleep, I had my laptop there were things I could still do, but that didn’t stop me from frowning. Why? I tried to imagine flights in the last decade when there was no in-flight entertainment system- they still managed to pass time without the frustration, why was I not able to keep my impatience in check? Hmmm...

And then, there is this amazing phenomenon noted by Arthur. All the passengers remained in their seats until the seatbelts signal was turned off after landing. This would not have been possible in Air China or Singapore Airlines for that matter. *grin*

Oh and one last thing.. the food really yummy. Not quite the sushi and total Japanese fare I was hoping for, but the yuzu salad dressing, cold somen appetizer, tamago and pickles side dish, matcha cake dessert, pancakes & waffle breakfast and citrus kumquat drink definitely left an impression. Wondering what I’ll have on my way back…

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