SIN-NRT

After learning how to list for the jumpseat from a very accommodating United Captain and First Officer, I boarded flight UA803 from Tokyo to Singapore.  I was assigned to a Business Class seat, but as the doors were about to close, the FO came back towards the aircraft to where I was sitting and then told me that there was an opening in First.  First had the full lie flat beds and I have to say that it was awesome!  I've never gotten bed head from sleeping on a plane and I was just loving every minute of it.  I'm definitely getting spoiled traveling the way that I have been in the last two trips. 

I arrived at 11:30PM on the night of the 18th, met a friend who picked me up a little later than the proposed arrival time, and we took a cab straight to my hotel.  After a quick conversation, I opted to go to sleep so that I could start the day early and head out.  Pictures if you click on "MORE"

Today has been quite adventurous as I headed out on my own straight for Fort Canning Park.   Along the way, I went into a Hindu Temple and observed some prayers being said, took pictures then headed back out.  Back to the fort, I learned that Fort Canning was a British military installation in where they eventually surrendered to the Japanese in 1942.  I took some photographs of the foliage and just made my way around the area.  I didn't do the full history brief but as I began walking around the area, I ran into an Australian Drama / Art teacher with whom I exchanged a few words and we ended up walking the entire northern area of Orchard Road and Orchard Boulevard together.  We went to an informational store front, grabbed a couple of brochures and continued to just walk and look at all the shopping that was paving the entire way.   With construction lining up the walkways and tall buildings in their infancy, I can't say that Orchard Road was that much of a sight.  It's nothing less of a bourgeoning downtown.  Different indeed with all the food places around cooking BBQ and such along the sidewalks, but there were a couple of Starbucks', Coffee Beans, and the much favored 7/11s littering the area.  Globalization at its best really. 

We hurried back, after walking ~15KM, to where my friend Charmaine worked and went out to lunch.  Just earlier that morning, my friend Sean mentioned that I should hit up the Maxwell Food Court for some Chicken Rice and Singapore Chili Crab and we did just that.  The crab wasn't out yet, but Charmaine introduced White Carrot Cake, Oyster something and some coconut chicken dish I grabbed the sugar cane drinks.  It was great!  I'm sweating like crazy and haven't even pissed out the 1L water that I drank and a Gatorade that I downed plus the Snapple that I had for breakfast!

 

ATL-NRT-SIN

I'm going to stop saying sorry for updates, but looks like I'll finish up the Eilat / Cairo blog and insert it right before this post.  As for now, I'm sitting in the ATL airport after coming in on a Nap (ATL-BQK-ATL in 14 hours) headed for NRT then connecting to Singapore on Northwest or United.  I tried picking up an ID 75 on Singapore Airlines but it would have costed me ~$600 one way!  So, now I'm trying to book a hotel because it is looking good that I might be able to make the NRT trip, but then we'll see from there.  I'm trying to jumpseat because I don't want to use the rest of my transoceanic flight privileges which were degraded last December.  Wish me luck because I'll be needing all of it. Update: I just got assigned 11A only because the gate agent was nice enough to tell me that if I jumpseated, I would have been sitting in the back.  I just hope that this doesn't hit me in the butt when I try another transocenaic trip later on this year.  I mean, in reality, I don't think that I'll be hitting up Asia or Europe more than 1 more time this year.

Bus, $50 Cab for 15KM, Back 2 US / Afterthoughts

Well, the 5 hour bus ride wasn't that bad at all, but being that it almost cost the same amount as riding (ID90) on Arkira, Israel's domestic flag carrier, I still thought that it would be better to hang out with my buddies.  I caught some good glimpses of the desert, then more desert, and that was all there was to see really.  We stopped a few times for restroom breaks and snacks, but soon enough, it was time to say goodbye.  We tried quite a bit to find better methods of transportation to the airport but it was still early Saturday afternoon and the trains weren't in service because of Shabat.  We negotiated with a cab down to $50 and he made it seem like it was far, but once we got on the freeway, I saw a sign that said Ben Gurion was only 15 KM!  I was pissed.  What kind of country or business charges that much for travel.  I guess that fuel is quite a bit, but it was ridiculous!  He didn't even help with baggage which I guess was normal in Israel.  I was lucky to get on board again and saw some familiar faces from the trip prior and that was that.  To sum it up, I'm going to have to head back to Tel Aviv and actually do the Holy Land Tour but I'm definitely going to be taking a significant other!

Afterthoughts:  I can't say that I was too pleased with the level of service that a country like Israel had.  The cab drivers were rude and ready to take your money.  They weren't friendly at all and didn't even move a muscle to help you out with baggage.  They would even charge more for bags!  The prices of drinks, food and hotels were extremely overpriced, but I guess that my story is bias being that I went to a resort town.  The initial impression of Israel wasn't a too positive one, but I never shut things out.  I'll definitely give it another shot.  Maybe later than sooner, but for sure I will.  Egypt was for sure a one time deal, but like I said before, I would do it again only if there was a large group who wanted to know and learn more about the Nile and its surrounding economics and history.  I wouldn't recommend the tour again as we probably could have done it ourselves for cheaper, but 20/20 hindsight, it made it that much less of a hassle to travel around Egypt. 

DONE!!!

Now onto Tokyo / Singapore / Manila / Hong Kong!

Hilton Queen of Sheeba

We headed for the Queen of Sheeba relative early (Friday check-in) in order to feel what it was like to live the "better" life of glitz and glamour.  Bottom line, we just wanted a good pool at a nice hotel to chill at.  The Red Sea is awesome but it was a little cold and man the Hilton was amazing!  We checked in, headed up to the business suite, ate a little bit of what they offered for appetizers, played on the Internet, booked out tickets back on the bus for Tel Aviv and then went up to the room once they handed us the keys.  Our room was gorgeous!  It had two separate rooms each with its own bathrooms, a kitchenette, huge balcony, living room, and even dining room.  Yes, it was truly amazing.  I ended up getting an upgrade because of my gold VIP status and what a room.  We started getting little gifts for Shabat (a large loaf of bread and wine), bottles of water, a thank you card, a welcome card...people just didn't stop coming into the room! 

We got dressed and headed for the pool.  It was just a great afternoon to hang out and relax.  I had a chance to recuperate from the bug that was still eating my stomach poolside and I couldn't have had it any other way.  One word sums it up...beautiful...young men and women of Israeli descent hanging out poolside with their oversize Gucci / Louis Vuitton sunglasses, owning the world.  It was ridiculous.  Everyone there was with a significant other except my colleagues and I and it really just made me miss Adelle a lot more.  Prior to the trip, I was really egging her on, but the instability of the region wasn't a highlight in the trip proposal and I didn't want to fight it that much so it was known that I would be traveling by myself.  We spent the entire day at the pool with the idea of hitting up a local nightclub and of course, I still went out thinking I was going to dance the last night in Israel away, but I called it a night after standing in line for a couple of minutes.  I walked back, enjoyed the sights and went to bed.  I woke up just before breakfast was to close and was greeted with a huge buffet!  First class for sure.  The difference was was that I had an appetite and ready to get some food in me before the 5 hour trip back to Tel Aviv.  I had my fill, packed up quick and headed for the bus station.  The trip was coming to an end. 

Coming back to Eilat

Wednesday:  We headed straight for the hostel that night after the 5 hour van ride back to Eilat from Cairo.  Crossing the border on the way back wasn't that much of an issue at all compared with the day prior.  With just a few questions asked and after they found out we were students and that my colleagues were on the Israel Birthright (Taglit) trip, it was all good. 

Arriving that night, I was feeling a pretty good headache coming on.  I don't recall anything that was notable at the moment but I know that we ended up hanging out for a bit and then I called it a night.  Actually, we got some food by the beach around 11:00PM where we were entertained by the European Finals Soccer Finals - Manchester vs. Chelsea.  It was a great game and the food wasn't that bad either. 

I couldn't really eat anything that morning at breakfast, but I tried.  We figured we would hit up the snorkeling / scuba diving thing, but by then, my stomach had already turned over a couple of times.  Heading to the beach, I still didn't feel right and almost thought that I shouldn't go at all, but I tried to be a sport.  Trying to analyze what was causing my demise, we could only pinpoint it to shawarma, milk in my coffee from the breakfast in Egypt or maybe, maybe the dressing on the salad.  I'll award the bug to the fast food side shop in Egypt. 

The little spot of sand that was out there proved to be quite pricey.  After renting out some chairs for the afternoon at $15 each and then looking at the snorkeling stuff, it wasn't going to be cheap at all!  The drinks were over priced and ridiculous.  Bobby had some goggles and I jumped in after a bit of resting / tanning and swam for a bit.  I saw all the fish I cared for and called it quits.  I wanted to get some physical activity as I as already acting like a dead fish.  I was on vacation darnit and didn't want a little stomach bug to destroy that but it was getting the best of me for sure. 

After a brief couple of hours, I decided to head back.  It was already late in the afternoon, so once again, I ended up back at the hostel, my stomach in rotten mode and unforgiving,  I crashed pretty hard after a quick shower until the roomies came back.  I was awaken by my good friend, Doctor Nourani who helped me out with some pills and apple juice.  I was really messed up and dehydrated especially with all the trips to the bathroom.  I knew that I didn't look good either and was in dire need of some help.  At one point I was thinking of heading to the hospital for an IV bag!  I knew what my body needed, but I couldn't get anything done!  I ended up just sleeping it off and praying that I would feel better.  The dreams that I had were a little crazy and psychedelic.  It's really hard to explain but there was something in my dream that I had to figure out in order to help physical myself and even though I knew the answer, I couldn't see it.  Well, when I figured it out after much frustration, I woke up feeling a little bit better, but still only 70%.  Definitely a lot better though than the previous day but it wasn't like I was going to run a 10K or anything.  Thanks for taking care of me guys.

Two Day Whirlwind Tour (part 2)

The pool at the hotel was a definite bust as the bottom was dirty and we just weren't feeling it.  After a tiresome van ride, bogus shop tour and quicky museum trip, we just wanted to kick back Egyptian style.  Our tour guide had a hard time understanding that we wanted to see the nightlife and just hang out, but we ended up calling it a night after a dinner at the hotel.  We woke up early the next morning to a breakfast buffet where I had quite a few cups of coffee with some milk.  More on that later.  We headed straight to the Pyramids at Giza where we had a chance to ride some camels and even race a little bit.  The pyramids were definitely quite an awesome sight.  You really don't get to realize them in all their glory because of how fast the tour is and I guess it's safe to say that I'm still amazed that I even got to check them out.  I do have to admit though that it is a one time show.  I'm not going to be aching to go back anytime soon.  Maybe it was the heat or just the general mess but maybe with a bunch of other people on a 1 week Egyptian safari to Alexandria and the rest of the Nile might be worthwhile.  Here are a few pictures below.     

We also got to check out the Sphinx and we posed with some really provactive stances, but it all didn't work out because we lost a camera on the way home from Eilat to Tel Aviv later that week. 

After the Sphinx, we check out a Protestant Church, Jewish Temple and a Muslim Mosque.  Went to a jewelry store to check out some Egyptian gold, headed to some cotton place and went to a place where they sell perfumes.  I started to get a light headache by the time we were all said and done in the perfume shop due to the overwhelming amount of aromas in the closed room. 

We caught some lunch at a Shawarma (gyro type thing) place alongside the road (I wouldn't recommend <-- more on that later) and then made out way to the last stop which was an open market plaza.  We got a quick chance to tour around but we ended up not buying anything.  I saw some great replica watches, but when it came down to it, I didn't think that I would wear anything.  We got back on the bus where I started to really feel dehydrated and sick and headed back to Eilat.  That night is when I just started hurting.  To say the least, I was on the toilet every other hour throughout the next few days.  =(  I couldn't pinpoint on whether it was the milk in the morning or the fastfood place that we dined at for lunch or maybe just the overall shock, but I didn't eat (or was scared to eat) for the following two days.  I couldn't even get myself to go snorkeling or diving in the Red Sea.  I just about called it quits.  I did get better on the day prior to us leaving as we stayed at the Hilton Queen of Sheeba Resort!  That was awesome. 

June Schedule

For those of you that did not notice, I didn't have a regular June Schedule posted for quite a while.  This is due to the fact that I kept on switching things around in Open Time and now, there you have it.  Yes I have been "off" for the greater part of the month, but as you can see, I'll be working the next couple of days.  I'll still be trying to build up trips and make them longer so that I could get paid a little more, but as of now, this is it.  It's definitely a pretty light load though don't you think?

Two Day Whirlwind Tour (part 1)

Waking up at 5:00AM after a goodnight of just hanging out in a Cancun Spring Break like scene, we got ready and headed downstairs to a cab waiting to take us to the Israel / Egypt Border.  Once there, we proceeded to clear one side onto the other without any problem but once we were at the Egyptian side, our passports did not contain the proper visas to go to Cairo.  They sent us back in a midst of confusion, as we really couldn't communicate.  Walking back to the Israeli side, the guards called us back as the tour ambassador showed up with the proper papers to process us through.  I got a cool looking Egyptian Visa, boarded up a minivan like vehicle and took off.  It was the three of us, Bobby, Donna and myself along with our bus driver, and a personal guard strapped with a H&K Full Automatic MP5. 

The 5 hour journey began.  I couldn't sleep for most of the ride due to the weak suspension of the vehicle coupled with the badly paved roads, but eventually we ended up meeting our tour guide at the Egyptian Museum in Downtown Cairo.  There really wasn't that much to see as we crossed the Sinai Peninsula.  Just barren desert, random construction sites as grand canyon like geography.

We had a good lunch and got to know our personal tour guide asking him a handful of questions.  We then proceeded to the Egyptian Museum where he loaded us up with knowledge of everything that was contained in that building.  It was albeit overwhelming / wrong timing especially after a 5 hour van ride.  Structuring it in a different order might have been better.  Also having us rush on the decision to take part in either a Dinner on the Nile River Cruise, Laser Light Show at the Pyramids or Camel riding at Sunset didn't go well with us.  We decided to not add anymore expenses to the already $360 tour + $60 for border crossing fee that we incurred earlier that morning and call it a night with dinner at the hotel.  It definitely wasn't a 4 star place as we were told but it would have to do. 

Tel Aviv to Eilat

I landed early morning at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv Israel and took an airport shuttle to the domestic terminal where I was greeted with closed doors because it was a little too early.  They opened it up within five minutes and I sat inside until security opened up.  I was questioned quite a bit, for about an hour total including a back room full body check, but they ultimately helped me get a standby ticket and treated me fairly nice.  They are very thorough with their security processes but one can only imagine how necessary it is. 

I finally got on an Arkira 757-300 as one of last passengers and boarded up for a 20 minute flight.  The aircraft was full and we cruised relatively low for quite a while.  The approach into Eilat was great passing by the beach as the beginning of the runway boarders the north west side of the Red Sea.   I walked a little way to the Hostel that my friend Bobby told me to go to, changed in the closet, locked my things up and walked around with a new friend that I met at reception who was well trvaeled for the last few months.  Mike and I walked around for about 2.5 hours just wasting time and touring around until our rooms were ready.  I had a chance to take a dip in the Red Sea that early afternoon and check out the boardwalk.  I have to admit that it was very Mexico Riviera with the bars and beach chairs lining up the "ocean." 

I headed back to the Eilat Youth Hostel and Guest House, took a shower and napped to where I woke up a little later to Bobby and Donna arriving around 5:45PM.  The Hostel ended up being about $40 a head per night but also included a pretty impressive kosher breakfast.  Apparently, most Hostels in Israel include breakfast due to necessity of having Kosher meals.  No complaints here for sure. 

We headed out for a good dinner after catching up a bit and found a good restaurant on the boardwalk.  Mike joined us and we even toured the Hilton Queen of Sheeba Hotel.  It was definitely a step up from the hostel, but considerably much more.  We agreed to change the trip from Petra to Cairo the night before and we partied a little bit that night in anticipation for a 5.5 hours van ride to Cairo leaving at 6:00AM the next morning from the Hostel.  Eilat was quick, but we knew that we would be coming back in a couple of days.

Third Time is a Charm

I initially planned on hopping on a flight to Tel Aviv on Saturday but then figured out that I could end up going one day early so I tried for the Friday night red eye.  I was fourth on the list and it wasn't looking too good, but I thought that it would work out.  I got to the airport early and low and behold, there were a couple of flights that were diverted to Atlanta due to weather at JFK.  Those planes had passengers that were going to depart to Tel Aviv from JFK but instead were re-routed to ATL.  So, now I was out of luck.  They let 3 non revenue passengers on and I was fourth on the list.  There were over 20 other non revenue passengers that were waiting for a seat for the past few days, so I guess I didn't have it that bad.  I'll give it a try to next day. 

This time, the list looked good enough so that I would get on.  I ended up seeing the same couple from the night before and made friends with a few other familiar faces in the terminal all going to Tel Aviv for a summer vacation.  The flight originally made to depart at 10:40PM ended up being postponed due to maintenance till 12:40AM but as we started to board, the right engine cowl was still wide open with just a lot of flashlights peering into the engine nacelle.  I knew that it might be a little while longer until anything was going to be resolved.  Well, by the time we board and I had a breakfast mimosa, about around 2:00AM, the captain came over the loud speaker and announced that the flight would have to be canceled.  By then, it was almost a no go for, but when I got back to the house around 5:00AM, I saw that Delta had created an extra flight to accommodate the previous canceled flight at 11:00AM.  I called up one of my buddies, made it to the airport on time and even bought an ID90 (airline discounted ticket) on Arkira air so that I could fly to Eilat, Israel once I landed.  I boarded up along with the other people from the 2 previous tries and we headed out!  Third time is a charm. 

The Next Couple of Posts

Now that I have a great trip experience to write about, I'll definitely be posting a lot more in the next couple of days.  To sum it up here and now, I expired my last allowed paid vacation from my company this past weekend.  I decided to take a trip to Israel which happened to include a last minute 2-day trip to Cairo.  With that, I now have the remaining year to move all my trips around for larger breaks in between days of flying and maybe might be able to take another trip somewhere on the other side of the world.  Stay tuned for a nice post tonight on the first part of my 4 part journal entry.  Maybe it might just be 3 parts, but we'll see... =)

a 4 Hour Sit in Cincinnati Airport

Oh the joys of scheduling a 2 leg day with a four hour sit getting paid only per diem with no crew lounge.  Contemplating where to adventure to around the CVG airport, I find myself sitting her in the McDonalds in Concourse C with a brand new book that I just bought at the airport Borders Book Store.  I guess I shouldn't complain about that though because I got 10% off for being an airport employee and the #1 at McDs was just as I imagined it would be. 

The books that I picked up by the way at by Atul Gawande entitled, "Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science" and his second book called "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance."

Today's scheduled block pay (flight time) consists of 3 hours and 8 minutes.  Our total duty time though is 7 hours and 58 mins.  That means with our minimum duty rig of 2:1, I should get paid for almost 4 hours.  Oh joy... =)  Now with the weather slowly starting to roll into the Columbia, SC, our next destination and with more weather forecasted to arrive in ATL tomorrow, just makes sense that the last day of a 4 day, prior to me getting back to San Diego, should pose these anti-on-time hurdles.  It's going to be nice though once I'm on vacation. 

Sitting...

I'm on the last four day trip prior to my 2-week vacation.  Plans are slowly solidifying, but as we all know, my standby pass is only good when I'm on the plane, seated, and the door is closed.  Till, then, we won't know where I'm going to end up.  This is also the last vacation period that I have for 2008.  I'm going to have to bid around and move pairings around on my lines for the next few months in order to block together some good days off. 

Flying has been going well lately too.  I'm use to just working days in a row with 1 day off in between lately.  It wasn't as rough as I thought it would be with all the low time blocks we have been getting.  (4-days of flying blocked to only 16 hours with one dead head)  The trips all look the same with 3 legs the first day followed by 2-2-3.  We have 2-hour sits in between our ATL round-trips which gives up ample time to grab some dinner too, but the days are that much longer.  You can't complain much when other airlines are asking for voluntary leaves I guess.  I'm just glad to be getting credits of up to 80 hours or even more. 

I just bought a new backpack for my upcoming trip.  Tentatively, I'm heading to the Eastern Mediterranean Shores, but with the current coup in Lebanon, it's getting me a little nervous.  I'm sure it'll be okay, but we'll see what ends up happening.  Back to the bag.  It's a Kelty Redwing 3100 (3100 cubic inches of cargo / 50L) that was on sale at REI for $69.99.  I also had a $5.00 credit so that just made this bag that much more awesome / cheaper!!!  I didn't want a metal frame because I'm all about carry-on luggage only and I think that the cargo space it advertises is more than enough for some summer traveling.  I'm really excited to put some miles on this bag.  I still have yet to get a locking mechanism for those stays at hostels.  Anyone have a good idea?  I just have a Master combo lock but haven't the faintest idea on what to use to tie my bag up to the air-conditioner.  I'm not going to sew on an American Flag Patch or a Canadian one, but I was thinking about a California State Flag patch.  Maybe even something that has UCSD or San Diego.  Who knows.