My trip...not too shabby

As readers will know, my favorite airline is Singapore Air (SAI). They have those personal monitors for everyone with on-demand movies, TV shows and games..and some lovely-looking stewardesses, of course. Another thing going for them is their empathy with their passengers. I've twice been bumped up to business class (with it's better meals and basically flat sleeper beds...what an experience that is). Once because the travel agent made a mistake and SAI decided they'd make my life a bit easier (hint: if you take the same flight 5-10 times they get to know you, too) and another time my flight was overbooked so I too business to San Francisco and got another one to Vancouver (both covered by SAI) as well as 500 Sing$ (300 USD, 350,000 won) which made for a 40% discount from my ticket price.

Anyways, this time I was in line for about 30 minutes (maybe it was longer) and a few times I squatted to relieve my legs a bit. The gal at the counter apologized and put 2 'Solitaire' tags on my bags (will upload pic when I get back to Seoul so you can put your color printer to good use and make a few of your own) that basically put them on par with business class for unloading. Nice.

The meals on the flight were good, there were lots of good movies and, as usual, they gave me one of those sleeper masks when I asked for it (in business it's automatic, but if you ask in economy you'll get one). Upon arrival in Vancouver I saw a rare sight, the customs area was packed! A cruise was in port and normal flights all bunched up to. Not to worry, though, as just as I approached the line they opened another area of inspectors...and in about 10 minutes I was picking up my bags.

To top it off my cabbie spoke English (something that eluded me in Seoul and Vancouver much of the time) and we had a pretty cool conversation about life, marriage and cultures. (He too believes that once you stop looking for a spouse you'll meet them...a little wisdom for you single-but-lookings out there.)

My phone can take pictures here but needs a special chip to connect. I forgot its charger and extra battery, and already ran down the old one...so that's the only blotch on this trip so far; which ain't too bad. I've decided to start to teach him my limited French...which should keep him on his toes. He's already got some of the accent down when he speaks baby-talk.