First Class Air Travel

After 10 days, 2 cities in 2 continents, more than 20,000 miles and 48 hours on board an airplane at 33,000 ft above sea level, home is the best place to arrive at. 

The longer the trip the sweeter the home coming. Ten days trip is just too long - a record for me traveling without any of my children. Five days would be ideal. 

But THIS certainly made traveling much easier...

Cabin of a 747 1st class

Fringe benefits got to be one of the greatest perks in life. Just being Mrs. K enables me to enjoy this entitlement which I would never be able to afford (or the Chinese in me would never let me consider paying for such extravagance). So while I can I'll make the most of it and enjoy every minute of this windfall as I don't know how long this will last. Until now, I still haven't quite get over or taken this for granted but I think I can get use to this lifestyle so I have to get on Air Asia once in a while to get grounded!  

I know unless we are some hot shot celebrities, heads of state or CEOs (which are also fringe benefiters), most of us would not get to see this part of the plane which is usually situated right at the front (in the case of a jumbo 747, at the tip of its nose). Since I am here I took the liberty of bringing you along on this tour of the first class. For long haul flight, this can't get any better unless maybe on the 1st class in a A380.

Airline food is not something to rave about but when they are served like in a michelin star restaurant and...

with Dom Perignon and wines to wash down, they get to taste pretty good.

This was the sweet lovely air stewardess assigned to 'take care' of me. Told you I could get use to this life style...

This is a food blog so let me bring out the food...

The Malaysian signature dish, chicken and beef satay for appetizer. Tasty but dry.  

The gravy for the satay is very good, comparable to the Kajang satay sauce. 

A cold appetizer of grilled lobster, smoked trout, smoked salmon with pink seafood cocktail sauce. 

Cream of broccoli soup served with herbed croutons. This was good.

Steamed seabass in oriental sauce which was K's choice and the best part of this dish, he proclaimed, was the rice. The fish was overdone as most food on board are (is it because they are precooked and then the reheating before serving that cause them to be dry?)

I knew I should have ordered the ravioli (I didn't because I am not that great a fan of goat cheese) as soon as I saw my ostrich dish coming. It tasted as well as it looked, dry, dry, dry and it took a lot of  Dom to wash that piece down.

Mango cheese cake with ice cream

This saved the day for me. 'My' stewardess dressed this up extra special for me to take pictures as she saw me shooting away at the food.

That was only one leg of my long journey. I learned as the trip progressed that stews and pasta are better bets for main dishes on board and don't skipped the appetizers and desserts as they are mostly good.

The best part of being in the 1st class in a long haul flight has to be the sleeping arrangement. 

Each individual seat converts into a bed. 

When dinner was served and done, 'my' stewardess came round with the linen to make the bed.

Like magic, the cabin lights get dimmed, day becomes night and it is time to zzz...

If not in the mood to sleep, turn on the screen and you have a endless choice of music and movies to keep you occupied for hours. 

For me (got to be one of the worst travelers ever) who finds it so hard to fall asleep on board an airplane, this device is a godsend.

I went through most of the English and Chinese movies by the end of the trip. 

The first leg of the journey to Cape Town took 15 hours with a stop in Johannesburg and it was fun. 

The homecoming leg stretched 28 hours with 3 stops at various airports and that was a nightmare (even without a single delay), don't think I'll be doing that again, ever. 

It started from Buenos Aires on the 23rd (which is 11 hours behind our time and half way round the world). By the time I touched down in KK airport today the 25th, I was a wreck and a total mess.   

Let me sort out my jet-lagged mind and body first and I'll get to the rest of the amazing trip. 

Have to get myself to bed now so as to break the Buenos Aires rhythm but I know I am going to dream of the Tango.... 

Adios.