Saturday June 23rd 2007 - Travel Day

In my attempt to adjust to the time changing to Asia, I have been sleeping during the day on Friday and been awake in the dawn hours of Saturday to catch the first flight out of Champaign to Dallas Ft. Worth in which I’d catch another flight to Tokyo.

At 4 a.m., I received a message from American Airlines asking me to call back to reschedule my itinerary. Apparently, there was a really bad weather in Dallas area the night before that delayed the last flight crews’ arrival to Champaign until midnight. The FAA regulation requires them to have at least an 8-hr rest. Consequently, my first flight to Champaign was delayed by two hours and I should miss my flight to Tokyo.

This unpleasant occurrence turned out to be a very unexpected, surprisingly great experience as the airline bumped me up to the first class for the 13-hr flight to Tokyo. Being a college student, flying in premium cabin for a long-distance international flight is totally beyond my means.

The moment I stepped up the plane, I was offered a drink and a hot towel, and yes, you have a name in the first class – “Mr. Saat, would you prefer Western or Japanese lunch. Which movies would you like to watch? Mr. Saat, you can certainly mix your desert (as I was having difficulties to choose which decadents to put on my sundae)”. The moment I woke up from my nap on a flat bed, I was asked if I needed anything to drink.

So here I am starting to write this journal on this 777. My next stop is a 2-night visit to Tokyo. This stopover on the way to Kuala Lumpur is not part of the DeLeuw travel. I decided to meet my high school classmate who works in Nagoya and have her bring me around downtown Tokyo. Until next time, I’m going to watch another movie, and have a deep dish Uno pizza for snack.