My real first blog (from Thailand)

So, I'm officially a techie...(although i have no idea how to spell it or work spell check on this foreign version of windows... i know I just negated my first claim as to being a techie buy stay with me) i'm posting from Siam center, in Bangkok, and I guess what Siam means in Thai is big shopping center just like in the US) but here I am nonetheless writing a blog... so let me get to something interesting, to me anyway, and hope that I don't hit the key that turns everything into Thai...

So, for those of you, and i'm sure there are too many to count that have been tireously tracking my itinerary, you may already know that i was flying through tokyo on my way into Bangkok. And this is where our adventure begins, and by our, i mean mine. Okay, hours before we were set to land, a fed-ex plan crashed upon landing at the Narita airport which was horrific for obvious reasons, the least of which was that it caused every plane coming in to be redirected. So, I found myself with a new destination, Hankaido... which I learned was not a light chicken gravy used in japanese delicacies but rather an island that belongs to or is actually part of japan. Now the details that follow are just a fraction of why the japanese rose from the ashes after WWII to be an economic powerhouse in a matter of months, okay years but for my first time on their soil, I have to tell you, they are frickin machines with the hearts the size of watermelons (or insert whatever reference you like that means really big for you) now we don't even have a word in english for the amount of efficiency that they exhibited... and that coupled with the fact that since i'm on a 2 month trip, and was just so glad that the plane that crashed wasn't mine... my motto quickly became, "because I absolutely, positively, DON'T have to be there overnight," me and the japanese couldn't have been a better team.

Now since it wasn't there fault they didn't need to do anything in terms of accomodations, taxis, etc. but they gave me 7000 yen at the first airport to put towards hotel, food, sake, or whatever i wished... then at the second airport they decided to pick up the hotel bill and shuttle me there... free of charge. Now that would be great enough but I need to back up to when I first got on the plane in LA.

My first experience with Japan Airlines, a business class ticket gotten with American airline miles... I've been saving for a while. So, as I'm checking in i realize we are on a plane that has an upper deck, which is also business class... I ask to be switched upstairs but they apologize and say that everyone has confirmed and no more seats upstairs or anywhere for that matter. No worries, and on the plane I go. After getting settled in, a glass of chardonney, several hot towels, and a 4 course dinner that would rival Spago's on their best night, I go to recline my full length bed chair for a little shut eye. And my chair won't go back. Now, i try a couple of times but maybe, im not doing it right... this was before i became full fledged techie. So one of the very cute, very petite japanese attendants gave it a try, to the same end, and after digging up the instruction manual we realized we were indeed doing it correctly but it didn't alot for a menu from an earlier flight being caught in the crease where one of the rollers went back to recline. So there it was my seat didn't recline because of a tiny piece of paper that I couldn't have gotten stuck in there if I had 20 years and the best equipment in the world.
Well to save face, they came back apologizing profusely for the inconvience, and asked me if I would mind moving upstairs to a seat that did work... upstairs I went... which again would have been a happy ending to the story but there's more... upon arrival a team of cute attendants who had in one way or another done their very best to make my trip as enjoyable as possible came up to me with a voucher. Again apologizing for the inconvenience of my first seat they asked me to accept a voucher towards a future flight as a token of their apology.

The possibilities of everything that happened being coincendence is mathematically impossible and I would again humbly take my hat off to the big guy upstairs...not my upstairs, the way upstairs, as working his magic in ways that only he can.... but maybe he was feeling particularly randy because the following morning as I boarded my new plane from Tokyo to Bangkok, still business class, still very cute flight attendants... and still a totally full flight.
I get nestled in and go to watch a movie, although probably not a whole one as I'm ready for some serious shut-eye... my movies won't work...actually just the menu bar for the movies doesn't work... again I ask for help, again it seems that I have the only malfunctioning piece of equipment on the plane... I say no worries and go to sleep...waking up hours later just in time for another meal and a soft landing... but before we land again the crew came up to me with a now familiar piece of paper apologizing profusely and hoping that I would accept this voucher on their behalf and give Japan Airlines another try in the future... hummmmmmmmm let me think about that one...

so to all of you for reading this diluge (not sure if that is the word I want, but if not, I meant a really really long first blog) and to the Japanese...

domo arrigato
mr. robato