Regent Seven Seas Voyager Bangkok to Dubai Day 1-2 - Tampa, Montreal, Tokyo, Bangkok - a long, long, long day
The alarm went off at 3:15 in the morning. We reluctantly rolled out of bed and started the morning routine. Final use of bathroom items and then picking them up finalized the packing. A final trash collection, turning off the ice maker, turning off the inside water and water heater, and getting the bags out in the garage rounded out the prep.
Our driver arrived on time at 4:15. We locked up everything and were on our way to Tampa TPA. One benefit of an early departure was that there was no appreciable traffic. We got to the airport a little before 6:00. We walked right up to the Air Canada counter, checked our bags, and headed for TSA. Our pre-check status put us in the short line. The initial ID check was all hands-off. You place your passport or Real ID license in the reader, stand in front of the camera, and the agent tells you you're good to go.
We also zipped through the actual screening and collected our bags from the conveyor. A side note, in the regular TSA lines, TPA has installed the new generation of luggage scanners that provide a full 3D view of each bag's category contents. Eventually, this should make the regular lines faster, and you won't have to remove things from your bag anymore.
We hopped the train to the A concourse with more than an hour to go until boarding. Chick-fil-A was open, and we hadn't had anything to eat, so we picked up a couple of chicken biscuits and hash browns and went to our gate.
As we waited, the sun started making its appearance with our Air Canada Rouge Airbus A319 at the gate, waiting for us.
Right on schedule at 7:30, we boarded, hoping for an on-time launch at 8:15.
Sadly, that didn't happen. We pushed back at 8:30, and we're airborne shortly after for the roughly 3.5-hour flight to Montreal.
We arrived and had to clear Customs. It's crazy that we had to scan our boarding pass three times in the space of about 50 feet (16 meters for the Canadians). I downloaded the ArriveCan app with the free WiFi on the flight and did our declaration before we landed. We sailed through and headed for the lounge. No sooner than we got there and our plane was called for boarding early. What? We headed for gate 52, which thankfully was right next to the lounge, and boarded immediately. We each headed to our assigned pods, 5G for me and 5K for Arlona.
We settled in for the 13-hour flight to Tokyo. Unfortunately, this flight only offers free WiFi to Air Canada Aeroplan members, and even if I joined right now, the number wouldn't be on the reservation, so I'll have 13 hours without. At least there are movies, and I hoped to get some sleep.
Movies took a bit as they had issues with all the cabin electronics. None of the screens worked at all. Eventually, they had to reset the entire cabin system. That took the electrically-operated seats offline too. After about 15 minutes, everything came online, and we could adjust our seats and watch movies.
After a little over 13 hours, several meals, and multiple bathroom trips, we arrived at Narita airport in Tokyo.
A quick pass through security, and we arrived at the Turkish Air Star Alliance lounge. We had a little over an hour until we would board our third and final flight for today, about six hours to Bangkok. While we waited, this All Nippon Airbus A380 pulled in, painted like a Hawaiian turtle.
We had a glass of Coke Zero and a handful of nuts and headed down to our departure gate.
It was pouring rain in Tokyo, but that didn't impact us at all. We took off on schedule and made good time, arriving a little after 10 PM local time in Bangkok.
We settled into our pods and enjoyed a purple lemon juice before takeoff.
The Thai Airlines pods weren't as comfy as the ones on Air Canada, but they still offered plenty of room and a big video screen.
We caught a nice sunset as we climbed above the clouds, departing Tokyo.
About six hours later, we descended into Bangkok.
It is now just after midnight here in Bangkok as I wrap up the start of this trip. We have to be downstairs for breakfast at 6:30 tomorrow morning and be ready to leave for the airport at 7:50. Yikes. So, no rest for the weary. We spent just about 24 hours on aircraft and flew about 10,650 miles to get here - more than 32 hours in all. We'll be doing it again tomorrow when we fly to Cambodia.
Here's the plan:
Tomorrow, we will transfer to Angkor Wat in Cambodia for three days. Then, we fly back to Bangkok and board our first Regent Seven Seas cruise on the Seven Seas Voyager.
We will stop in Ko Sumai, Thailand, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Phuket, Thailand, and Colombo, Sri Lanka. We will disembark in our next port, Cochin, India, and travel to the Taj Mahal. We will rejoin the ship in Mumbai and sail to Dubai. We'll have another marathon travel day at the end as well.
It's late. I didn't sleep much. We're traveling again tomorrow. Until then.
Looking forward to your honest reports :)
ReplyDelete