The Long Journey to Manila

Let's face it - there is no easy way to get to the other side of the world but if you have to travel for nearly 24 hours you might as well do it as comfortably as possible.  The seats for international flights have improved vastly from my last trip here nearly five years ago.  Previously my seat would have been like a glorified lazy boy recliner but now you truly can lie flat and get some real sleep.

 The seating now is the airline's equivalent of a studio apartment in the air, complete with entertainment system and bed.  What more could you ask for ?  Oh yeah, how about incredible service from the flight attendants.  I was very impressed with the quality of the service during the entire flight.  I was offered my choice of Japanese cuisine or International cuisine, and seeing as I am not overly adventurous when it comes to food I went with the International option - which turned out to be a juicy steak and an assortment of tasty sides.

 I'm still not sure what the large open space to my right was for, but it was mine anyways to do with as I pleased.  I was able to watch several movies during the journey.  I watched the Lone Ranger, which was better than I was expecting, as well as some old standbys that I brought with me - U571 & Collateral.  You can only watch so many movies however, so I was able to get about three or four hours of sleep.  I wore a sleeping mask because we were traveling during daylight the entire journey and even though the plane was as dark as possible it was still not like it would have been in the middle of the night.

I had mentioned in my previous post that one of the most fascinating parts of the trip was the flight path, which took us unexpectedly close to the arctic circle.  I took the picture below just as we were crossing the International Date line.

Due to strong headwinds we arrived in Tokyo about an hour later than expected but that was not a problem because we had a long layover in the first place.  Fortunately we had access to the ANA Lounge and we had a comfy place and some good food to hold us over.

Shown to the left is the plane that we were on - a Boeing 777-300.  Nerd Alert: The engines on the 777, especially the GE90 on the 300 model are gigantic. The front fan alone is 10 ft. 4in. wide and together with the fan casing and the engine nacelle, the whole unit is wider than the fuselage of the 707, 727, 737,and 757 narrow bodied airliners. 

Impressive as it was it is still not as large as my favorite plane, a Boeing 747.

For our connecting flight to Manila we were on a Boeing 767.  The Business Class section had the more traditional lazy-boy recliner type seats, which was just fine for a flight of nearly five hours.  We boarded our flight at 4:55 pm (JST) and arrived in Manila around 9:30 pm.  Fortunately we were the only aircraft unloading at that time so going through customs was a breeze.  We arrived at the hotel around 10:30, and after calling home to say hello it was time to hit the sack.  Overall it was an uneventful day of travel, which is all you can ask for. 

A Return to The Philippines - The Sequel

I can't believe it has been almost five years since I was last in the Philippines but my last trip there was in 2008.  The adventure all begins tomorrow, October 25th when I depart for Manila via Tokyo on All Nippon Airways Flt #11.

Personally I had never heard of ANA prior to this trip but after researching the airline it appears to have favorable reviews.  The equipment is scheduled to be a Boeing 777-300ER and it looks something like this:

The seating chart according to SeatGuru.com looks pretty good too.  For the first leg of the flight, by far the longest at 12+ hours, I'm going to be in seat 7D, shown to the left.

I am excited about the trip and looking forward to working with our team in Manila.  At the same time I will be leaving my wife and daughter behind and will be missing them terribly.  Hopefully I will have plenty of opportunities to video chat with everybody at home.

One of the things I am most looking forward to is the opportunity to see friends and colleagues who I have not seen in a long time.

The total travel time is crazy - I lose almost two days in the process of going West.  I can't wait for the Star Trek transporter technology to become a reality!  My flight is scheduled to depart from Chicago on Friday morning @ 10:50am and we don't arrive in Manila until Saturday night @ 8:55 pm.  We have a layover of almost 5 hours in Japan and even though I've never been to Japan I'm not sure that just being in the airport really counts.

One of the most fascinating parts of the trip is the flightpath the plan will take (shown below).  If I had known that I was going to be skirting past the North Pole I would have prepared my Christmas List and dropped it off with Santa Claus as we pass by.

When we arrive in Manila we'll be staying at The Peninsula Hotel (shown below).  I've never stayed there before but Accenture has a fabulous rate for such a world-class hotel.  Sunday will be a day to get oriented to the time change before we head into the office on Monday.  I'm hopeful of catching up with a few friends Sunday afternoon, sharing some beers and swapping stories.