Champagne or Green Tea?

These were the first words uttered to Lawrence and me as we sat down in our business class seats on the second leg of our flight from Dulles to Tokyo. All Nippon Airlines (ANA) had overbooked their flight, and I must have just smiled the right way at the desk attendant to get him to choose Lawrence and me for the upgrade.

And let me tell you, business class rocks! We boozed up (screwdrivers!) and were able to repose completely flatly across our seat/bed/massage chair. We had menus to choose delicious foods from and movies/music/TV/games on demand. We were loungin’. In fact, we were enjoying ourselves so much that we were actually sad to leave the plane.

And we were even sadder on the last leg of our flight from Tokyo to Bangkok when we returned to coach. Hitting my head on the seat in front of me as I grabbed the pen I so inconveniently dropped as I filled out the disembarking papers hurt that much more.

My Thai co-workers arranged for a driver to pick Lawrence and me up from the airport. That was particularly convenient because 1) we didn’t know how to get to our apartment and 2) it was 1AM and we were pooped. This was perhaps my least stressful departure from a foreign airport I’ve ever had. (No trying to sleep in the airport and then proceeding to get kicked out or haggling for a ride to town and a hotel room.)

We arrived at our place to find perhaps the nicest apartment Lawrence and I will have lived in so far. Ample shelving, two balconies, and even air conditioning! We unpacked and just savored our new place. We felt rested, relaxed. We are ready for our summer in Bangkok! More to come as life happens here.