Well for my devoted blog readers you might be wondering how the heck I made it back from Australia and New Zealand back in March. Did I swim, walk, take the slow boat from China? No I flew. I know you’ve all been waiting patiently for my trip report (or at lest I hope my one devoted reader is). Well I had a pretty decent trip home, I did in fact take the long road home, but when is that unusual for me, right. My itinerary was as follows Sydney to Bangkok on Thai Airways (my first time) then All Nippon Airways from Bangkok to Tokyo Narita connecting to American Airlines to Los Angeles. As many will say the distance between to points is a straight line, but in my case that’s just not so true.

I left Sydney late in the afternoon, on one of the two 747’s that fly from and to Sydney and Bangkok on Thai every day. On this sector and the one to Japan I had used miles to score a first class seat, I was truly giddy as a school girl because I had never flown Thai let alone in first and was looking forward to the hopefully amazing experience. In a nutshell, I was not disappointed in a cabin of ten maximum passengers and four crew members you knew you were in for a treat. Even though the cabin was full, it never felt crowded and I always felt attended to when I needed anything. In fact upon arrival on the plane, I was greeted by name, taken to my seat and then all four attendants came by to introduce themselves. Even at disembarkation, they all went by each passenger, and said thank you and bowed. As I’ve found so frequently thought out Southeast Asia so many people are so friendly even on an airplane.

Below you’ll find pictures of my seat, the awesome pajamas and the even cooler Tumi amenity kit. As well as my food. Overall the seat, food and entertainment were great. I had enough time to rest, watch a few movies and just enjoy the beautiful journey home. In my almost 40 years on this planet I’ve been lucky enough to fly in first class a few times (thanks to airmiles). Although Thai didn’t unseat Singapore Airlines as my number one, they were a close second, and if I have the opportunity to fly them again, I will jump at the chance.

If all of the food and the amazing seat and legroom we just not enough, upon landing in Thailand I had the opportunity to partake in a quick Thai Massage. Thai offers this very pretty cool free perk for all Business and First class guests regardless of whether you arrive or depart in one of these two classes. The only difference is a 1/2 hour vs. 1 hour. In my case I did get the hour option, but due to a short connection and a long wait I only was able to get a 20 or so minute neck and shoulder massage. I know why am I complaining, a FREE massage in Thailand how cool is that? Needless to say this was a very very good massage. Many thanks Thai Airways, I hope to have the opportunity to try this again.

On my way out of Thailand I got to fly ANA one of two National carriers out of Japan. I had flown them before also in business like this flight but that was back in 2007. Although a very nice flight, after the heals of my Thai experience, it was just ho hum. I know that’s not a fair assessment, since if I had this seat and this crew on any US carrier I would be in hog heaven. The part that was so amazing about this flight was the meal I had, it was the perfect Japanese style sushi box, expertly prepared and incredibly tasty. I can’t believe how good the food was for 35,000 feet in the air.

Stay tuned for the next installment on how I got home.