Musings of a Food and Travel Addict
Here’s the plane that the Rolls Royce Trent engine was attached to. Way cool!
Boeing 787 Dreamliner! And the Star Wars theme didn’t end at the outside of the plane. In Business, there was a Yoda. In Economy, we got similarly attired headrests and CAs.
Shot while boarding the ANA Star Wars jet at NRT via airstairs.
One of the neat things about Singapore is that they have programming from many Asian countries on local TV. Subtitled!
I have never been a K-drama groupie, but there are some shows I like. Then there are the silly variety shows. One I started watching (after seeing the first episode in SG) is called Guesthouse Daughters. It’s funny and it’s aired after hours on KBS. So the humor is fun and the daughters (and mom) are all famous Korean actresses.
Fun!
It’s hard to go from the JL first lounge to economy class on the airplane. The lounge has real food, real booze and the infamous curry rice. A lot of yum there. Compare that to the mystery food in economy. Result? Eat dinner in the lounge.
1948 BMW 502 “Baroque Angel” at the BMW Brand Experience showroom in Shanghai. It looks great in black!
I was reminded on my most recent trip back East about how an airline can reflect the personality and traits of its home base. I took two flights on this trip: a multi leg UA flight (SFO-NRT-SIN-NRT-SFO) and a round trip SQ flight to Hong Kong.
UA is typically American, from the obese passengers with entitlement attitudes (I am in C, therefore I own the aisle and I will block it when I want, gate lice, queue jumping) to the adequate to poor service to the typically union attitude of skirting the regulations. For example, nametags.
Nametags are supposed to be worn as part of the uniform. I have never seen so many creative ways that a name badge can be obscured or hidden. I saw lapels conveniently covering nametags, one name tag that looked buffed out with a brillo pad, tags with first names only and several with none. This is to prevent any sort of complaint that passengers may have about the flight attendants since the first step is to identify the culprit and how can you be identified if you don’t have an accurate name tag. Unlike their counterparts on Singapore Airlines, where the stewards and stewardesses wear their uniforms and tags proudly, UA flight attendants feel the need to obscure their identity, lest they get called out for bad service. But what’s the point, since they’re AFA anyway! They won’t get fired. And the ones that tend to get called out for good service, they’re the ones that wear their tags properly. Usually they’re Narita based and non AFA.
Another example of the American “it’ll do” attitude is the condition of the airplane interiors. Since the basics of aircraft maintenance are by gov’t regulation, UA has to follow rules to make sure their fleet stays airworthy and they generally do a good job at that. However, there’s nothing that regulates the condition of the interior of the plane, where on my 744, trim pieces being held together by tape were the norm. I have also been on planes where panels and doors were held in place with tape. Maybe that should be part of every carry on bag, a roll of tape, in case the plane needs some emergency repairs. And don’t get me started about the lavatories. On the first return leg, I was seated in an exit row, next to the battery of 4 lavatories in the main cabin. There were a lot of unsanitary types going in and out along with the various smells pushed into the cabin with the lavatory door being swung open and closed. Not once were the lavatories wiped down during the 7 hour flight. Yuck! When asked about that, the flight attendant said in a bored voice, “that’s not MY job”. I wonder if Jeff uses these lavatories when he flies? Maybe he can make an improvement here that we will all like.
SQ, despite being criticized by some long time business fliers as “not as good as before” is still the standard in the skies. Despite having issues with their website and the criticism of some of the quality of the new crews, SQ is still the preferred carrier for the region, according to an informal poll I took while in Singapore. The experience onboard was efficient, well mannered, clean and pleasant. And those were my fellow passengers. Kinda like Singapore.
My flight was on an Airbus A330 regional jet that replaced the old Boeing 772s that SQ flew for years on these routes. The planes are new and well maintained inside and out. Actually every SQ plane I have been on has been almost Japanese in its upkeep and maintenance. Unlike the UA 744s that have only a screen in the main cabin, every seat back on SQ has a version of Kris World, their AVOD system. And unlike the flight attendants on UA who are either fat or old and cranky, SQ inflight service still remains pleasant and engaging. The food reflects the destination so there was a choice of Cantonese dishes as part of the inflight meal. Nice to have a choice besides “beef or chicken”. And a beautiful smile from my stewardess when I woke up after my nap. Yay. It’s nice to get on a plane cynical and to depart smitten. It means that the airline has done its job, not just getting you from A to B but leaving you with a good taste in your mouth. Or was that the Krug?
Dammit! Not looking forward to a 17+ hour flight in United Economy…
Taken from the Park Hyatt at the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center. That’s the Jin Mao Tower in the foreground and the Oriental Pearl Tower in the back. The fog rolled in so thick that night that flights out of PVG were delayed for hours the next day. I know, because I spent six hours at the FM lounge waiting for my flight back to Singapore.
It just gets easier and easier to do things in Mainland China. During my last trip, I broke down and purchased a China Mobile prepaid SIM for use during my visit. It makes things a lot easier when you’re out there.
It was a lot simpler to buy a SIM card than it was before. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Find a China Mobile (they have better coverage) store.
2. Walk inside and ask if someone can help you in english (对不起，你会说英文吗?).
3. Bring Passport and unlocked GSM phone; the former to register your SIM card and the latter so the staff can test it out for you.
It really was that easy. Here’s a site with more detailed information. It’s a couple of years old, but the information is still valid.
I ran the SIM card on my unlocked Nexus One. Phone calls and SMSes went through fine. I was able to purchase a data bucket to run Google Maps, the internet, Foursquare and most importantly, Google Translate! For standard GSM phones however, you will be running on EDGE. If you’re wanting 3G speed, I’ve read conflicting reports that China Unicom has a prepaid 3G service. Unlike most prepaid service in Asia, you can’t punch in a USSD code to pull up your balance or to purchase services. You need to call 10086 and press 2. Service is 24 hours and their English speaking staff is pretty good.
One more thing; Boingo Mobile works with a lot of the pay-hot spots around Shanghai. So if you have that service, you can always save your data by logging onto Wi-Fi.
So, the moral of the story is: be adventurous and ask! Usually people will be nice enough to be helpful, especially if you try to speak Putonghua. Which I can’t.
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