. I wanted to remind him we would be in the air for at least 5 ½ to 6 hours 
. I had finally had a window seat with a view. We sat on the tarmac for over an hour, but it was wonderful. My window was facing East, and I could see all the planes come in to land on 23L behind mehttp://www.airliners.net/open.file/534877/L/, all coming out of the dark clouds that loomed in the distance. The white of the Air Canada jets changed to a pale yellow as the setting sun in the West set a glow on them, throwing brief shadows on them from their own wings http://www.airliners.net/open.file/534914/L/. What was the best of all was the Lufthansa 744 that came out of the dark clouds, http://www.airliners.net/open.file/198680/L/ it’s already yellow crane looking even sharper against the blue backdrop of it’s tail. To view all this from the window seat was just amazing, the runway 23L just some meters away. We finally took off and were soon heading to LAX, with some really bumpy weather on the way. My friend by the emergency exit was probably more relieved to be sitting there. Back in Los Angeles, the next day we headed for the Tom Bradley International Terminal and found yet another line up like the one in YYZ the night before. However this line up was for the SQ 744 that we were soon going to board, and unlike AC which was for all North American departures. We got our boarding passes and since we were late again, my nephew and I we landed up getting seats over the start of the wing, just behind Raffles Business Class. The flight was full and every seat in the lounge was occupied, so we decided to walk around. An Alitalia MD-11 stood not too far from us http://www.airliners.net/open.file/231777/L/, waiting for another jet to clear the gate. A very stern and angry looking Station Manager of Alitalia frantically spoke on her walkie talkie trying every attempt for her jet to get to the gate on time. Time passed and we were not boarding. It was a great sunny afternoon like all Californian afternoons and our SQ 744 shone in the sun, the flight deck right above us from where we sat by the large windows on the floor. Very soon we were going to board the beast that was going to carry the two of us, me and my nephew all the way across the Pacific for the first time, before we touched down into Tokyo Narita on our way to Singapore Changi. We finally boarded and the familiar Singapore Airlines crew in their Sarong Kebayas and the men in their grey coats smiled and welcomed us on board
. The jet smelled fresh and clean and no sooner we all boarded the smell of hot face towels filled the air. It was so refreshing to wipe off all the warm air that we had experienced in LA. I loved SQ (of course this was before my flights on MH) and was flying them again after many years. I was glad nothing had changed. The very pretty Singapore girls were all smiles and handled the hour and a half delay out of LAX with sheer professionalism, handing drinks, reading materials etc. Fortunately I had bought my nephew a Pokemon game and gave it to him so he was quite occupied. We finally taxied out and passed many other 744 heavies on the way, including a NZ 744 that was probably going to LHR as most NZ heavies leave back for Australia and New Zealand in the wee hours of the LAX nights. I myself would be travelling on one of the NZ flights the next year on the nonstop LAX-SYD-LAX flights. We stopped briefly at a point from where the other runway’s departures could be seen and I saw a Swissair MD-11 climb out into the afternoon sky. Who would say that a year later the very same type would crash into Peggy’s cove and the very airline would cease to exist .We proceeded to the start of 24R and the familiar Los Angeles Control Tower and the famous restaurant with it’s amazing structure now lay directly in front of me. I had a seat which had only one window in front of me as I looked out of the window, which I had to bend forward to look out of. Directly at the side of me there was no window, but the wall of the aircraft, which was later very helpful to rest my head against during the 10 hours and 45 minutes of endless travel over the huge and mighty Pacific Ocean. It was around mid afternoon now with the delays and the 744 turned up the power and was soon racing down the runway leaving the beautiful LAX airport behind.
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/508886/L/ What was just so amazing is that we were over the blue waters in seconds the sunlight dancing on the top of it, like the stars had fallen from the night sky, twinkling lights in the day time here, there and everywhere. We just continued straight ahead and I was beginning to wonder if we could continue to Tokyo in this direction. However after a while he slowly turned right and was now flying alongside the Californian coast. We had climbed to a considerable height now and I could see the name Santa Barbara on the flight display and then looked out of my window and realized we were back over the brown landscape again as we continued over to San Francisco. However I could see only the endless blue of the ocean from the left from where I sat. The flight attendants began their duties and handed out overnight kits in strong plastic bags, the maroon socks inside giving the impression that the bags were actually maroon in colour. The crew were just great, especially this one FA who had such white teeth, her eyes bright and cheery as she handed each passenger the kit, the fringe in the front of her bouncing gently as she bent down forward to hand each kit with a smile. A Japanese woman sat at the side of my nephew in the 3x4x3 configuration and had a white mask on her face. I thought she was sick, but I later learned that Japanese are the cleanest people in the world, they are even scared to give you’re their germs. I did not bother me and I continued to enjoy the flight. The meal service began when barely seconds later the Captain came on and requested the meal service be terminated. I think those that got their meals continued with it, but the trolleys were returned to the galleys and the FAs took their seats. We bumped up and down but very mild turbulence when compared to some other flights where the jet literally bounced up and down, left and right. The meals returned and the movies were enjoyed. And my nephew continued to play his Pokemon.
We were now halfway into the flight and all evidence of land could not be seen on the flight display maps just endless blue seas, like the sea that was under us, and a red line behind the animated jet which tracked our progress. We were served the second meal and I opted for the Japanese version. I got nothing but green items, a green pasta like thing, green watery sauce and of course sushi rolls. I played with my food and probably was eating the wrong thing with the wrong item. I hoped my Japanese neighbour was not watching me out of the corner of her eye. Fortunately my nephew barely touched his food and I picked out of his while continuing to eat what was my food option. I think most of it went back, but my nephew’s trays went empty. Don’t ask me where the 10 hours and 45 minutes went. Before long after continuously flying along with the sun which never left us in all those hours, the faint outline of the Japanese Coastline appeared. It was dusk in Tokyo and I peered out with my tired eyes and saw the faint outline of a 747 beginning it’s turn down towards Narita airport’s runway 16. We continued to fly straight ahead ourselves and then we turned left now well over the Japanese coast. Before long we were flying over some highway with so many cars racing under it and what seemed like we were going to hit a billboard that hung high from the highway, but of course we were hundreds of feet above it.
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/423465/L/ We banged down on the runway and before long cleared the runway only to park alongside the sister 744 aircraft of SQ, which had arrived from Los Angeles and was on it’s way to Singapore. It seemed strange to view a similar aircraft from your own plane, especially when not at the airline’s home base. We deplaned and from the terminal could see our own jet surrounded by vehicles, while the other SQ 744 began to pull out. Much later I saw it at the start of the runway and joked with my nephew that the plane was leaving us as he turned and briefly saw the SQ 744 lift off in the last of the evening light. He knew better
and just pointed to the tail of the SQ 744 which we had come in , just showing over the top of some building looking back down at the Pokemon game. You cannot trick kids these days, they are just too smart. An Air Canada A340 rolled down the same runway later to begin it’s Pacific crossing back to Vancouver and Toronto. It was nice to see a maple leaf again and I smiled as she climbed up very briefly before disappearing behind a building and out of sight, leaving only her sounds behind.We boarded the jet again on our way to our final destination Singapore Changi. The polite Japanese woman had left us and was soon to be replaced by a real horror story 8O . My nephew had made a deal that out of Tokyo he would take the window seat, so now here I was in the middle of the 3 seats by the window. I was hoping no one would come by and the doors were almost closing when this large man came in. He said something in a foreign European language to the FA who tried to smile as he pushed her petite body against the galley compartment as he tried to squeeze by the tiny space. Guess what, he sat right in the seat at the side of me and flashed nice teeth under a brown moustache, but horrible breath, as he turned to me and smiled. Sweat raced down his face and he used his large hairy hands to wipe it off his brow. He was really well dressed and I assumed he had made a last minute dash to the plane. He then proceeded to take off his fancy coat and rolled up the sleeves of his nice white shirt, placing his hands folded behind his head. I turned as another odour took over the otherwise nice smelling jet, and saw two brown circles under his sweaty armpits. I slunk down in my seat and suddenly forced my nephew to chat with me as I tried to get his attention turning away from the man who had taken over the tranquility of the jet. We had not yet pushed back and I got out and looked for two other seats on the huge 744. Not a seat could be found. An FA asked me to return to my seat as I could now feel the jet rolling gently on it’s way to the runway. I was determined not to the spend the next six hours and more with this passenger :dammit: . I would pass out in half an hour the most if he kept his arms up on the headrest. I returned back and we had now come to the end of our taxi. The jet positioned itself and we raced down the runway. It was dark outside yet for a brief second I was taken back to another Northwest base in the US, Minneapolis St-Paul or Detroit perhaps as at least what seemed like 7-9 tails with the logo lights on at the terminal passed by outside the left side of my window http://www.airliners.net/open.file/283463/L/ . Tokyo Narita was a base for Northwest’s flights over to the rest of Asia, and this was proof as we passed them. We continued to climb straight ahead out of 16 and after a while turned right and continued towards the direction of Singapore passing over the Philippines on the way very close to Manila, down the South China sea and into Singapore. I was now frantically searching the entire aircraft for two free seats and finally found two in the very last row of the mammoth jet in the middle rows. I was not worried about a window seat at this point and just wanted to get out of the old ones. I went back and grabbed my nephew, almost startling the sleeping sweaty frequent flyer out of his little nap
. He probably stretched out into the three seats when we never returned. In our new seats it was better :thumbsup2: and the meals came through again. I thought I would explode as we had three whole dinners :fork: . It was close to midnight when the faint lights of Singapore/Malaysia shone outside the jet as it made it’s way to 20R or 20L I cannot remember. The cabin lights dimmed and now what shone outside were Singapore lights getting bigger and brighter as the jet descended towards the earth again. I tried to look out from my middle seat, almost annoying the passenger at the side of me, who had to literally hold his magazine to his face to give me ample view of the scene outside, wondering who was more of a child me or my little nephew. We landed very smoothly into Singapore Changi the outside of the jet now bright with the airport lights as we passed many Singapore tails on the way. We were in Singapore.[/url]