travelling again

i need to be very careful what i ask for. i was asking as a young child to have plenty of travel experiences.

i am flying so regularly the last 2 years i am a little numb. the experience is so bland nowadays, it's like going thru the motions.

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i'll wake up, with a little panic - the bag's not packed yet. the cab's already in front of the house, waiting. i pack em all in, jamming as much clothes as i can, making sure my work shirts won't wrinkle badly, and of course, don't forget the toothbrush and toileteries.

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next time, when your child makes a wish like i did, you'll do well to coach him/her to make a more 'solid' wish.

me: i wanna fly a lot ... <- results in a job that requires you to travel lots, work lots and not enjoy the travel.

your kid: i wanna fly a lot, but not because it's a work requirement, not because i'm escaping from the law enforcement agencies, not because i'm escaping creditors, not because i'm a cargo plane pilot .... etc. etc.

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here are some snippets of my usual commute to work ... here i am waiting at a flight gate #4 at bangkok international airport. this is one of the few major international airport i've been to where you still need to be driven to your flight (on some, not all flights), and you still enter the plane on a staircase on the tarmac.

i dunno, maybe they ran out of airplace parking spots. or maybe they just have too many employees and need to give them some job. i really don't know.

here, the uncle looks a little like a deer in the light. there's nothing to see behind me. maybe he's just admiring the beautiful ceiling.

i average 2 hours at the airport everytime i take a flight from bangkok international.

bangkok is down there, somewhere. i absolutely love to fly at night. and i absolutely must have a window seat. all these years of flying have not changed my love of gazing out of the window.

most of the time, you really see nothing but clouds or sea, but there are rewarding sights as well. i have flown over uluru (ayers rock), the great barier reef, countless great cities, volcanoes, some pretty beautiful mountains. most of all i love to see the lights of a city when a plane is approaching the runway.

i'm blessed because bangkok happens to be one of the brightest cities in the world, and i do travel there often. i also love hong kong, although now, the airport's pretty far from where the lights used to be.

the worst part about a flight is ... airline meals.

unless you're fortunate enough to always fly on business or first class, you probably never get any haute cuisine experiences.

here's what i typically get on my flights. i avoid rice where possible, i always get myself wine, lots of juice, seafood where available and i drink tea with a small wedge of lemon.

malaysian airlines absolutely suck in my opinion as far as food is concerned. i'm impressed with thai airways and emirates. the much talked about singapore airlines is pretty bad too.

and the best travel companion lately ... the ipod. portable music players have made my travels so much more bearable.

nothing beats the ability to listen to the songs i want when i want where i want and as many times as i want.

on shorter haul flights when the only thing shown on the airplane av system are mr bean re-runs or happiness on earth (thailand) promotional videos, having my own ipod mini is godsent.

not sure how my travel experience would have been without the ipod.