And we're off!
FLL - Chicago - Tokyo - Hanoi
We were up at 4am to be ready for our 4:45am Uber arrival & transportation to the airport. We were one of the first to board as we had First Class seats for the 3 1/2 hour flight to Chicago O'Hare. We were at the airport a little after 5am and it turned out that we were smart to provide a little cushion time as the United agent had to enter a lot of details from our passports and Vietnam Visas to get us cleared, check out luggage, and issue our boarding passes. Because we had booked Business Class seating for the trip, the domestic three and a half hour flight to Chicago was in First Class. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed with the seating. Nothing wrong with them, plenty of room, etc. but when we fly to Europe we almost always book "Premium Economy" seats and the seats we had on this first flight were pretty comparable to those seats. It was "interesting" that as I sat down, the monitor in front of my seat welcomed me by name!
Upon arrival we had our first "crisis" of the day! Uh oh......as I said we had booked business class seats and according to our boarding passes we were assigned to seats 8E-8G. I'd even done a screen shot to show Kim and for our files of where we were seated. But as we got off the domestic flight and headed towards our gate our boarding passes showed we were in Boarding Group 2 and assigned seats 18D and 19E. That's a problem....why? Because from having traveled "Premium Economy" I am familiar that that grouping is almost always in "Group 2" to board the plane and typically those seats are in rows 15-25 or so. From my experience, the new boarding pass showing "Group 2, Seat 19E" for me almost certainly means we've been moved to premium economy. As we arrived at our gate there was a United agent and I explained my concern. As we walked up Kim and I both know that when assigned a seat on a plane that is NOT guaranteed.....and that's especially true if there is an aircraft change. The girl pulled up our reservation and said, "Nope, you're all good - in Business Class for both this flight and the next." Then she told us because we were traveling Business Class we could wait in the United Polaris Lounge. It's certainly a wonderful perk if you are paying the big money for the top shelf seats on the plane. Free buffet food....free drinks, including alcoholic beverages.
We had about two hours to enjoy the Polaris lounge before making our way to the gate for our United flight which was operated by a ANA-Japan to Tokyo. As we walked up the gate attendant asked if we were Business Class and when we said yes he said come with me, you can be first in line for Boarding Group 2. As we chatted in line I explained how we'd been concerned about our seats. He smiled and said on this particular aircraft over 2/3 of the seats are Business Class and less than a third are premium economy!
As we boarded the giant aircraft it was indeed row after row of Business Class seating. It was interesting to me that the "First Class" Business Class "apartments" were a good 1/2 size bigger than the ones the rest of us had - and while we had a huge flat screen TV, their screen was a GIANT at least 46" screen. But as you can see in the close up of our "apartment, it was very spacious.
A couple of interesting features....as you look at the opening to exit into the row, both the wall above the counter and the wall currently at the back of the seat closed to come together and give you a lot of privacy while you were in your own space. The counter opened to cover the entire area over to the monitor and then was adjustable up and back for your comfort level. If you look at the bottom right, there is an opening at floor level where you can extend your legs, or the padded shelf above allowed you to fully extend you legs. And when it came time for sleep, there were buttons just below the counter that allowed you to manipulate the seat from partial recline to completely flat where the front of the seat came flush to the shelf on the lower right. Compare to the other two Business Class flights we've been on, I felt this one was the most roomy. Partially because of the extra width of the seat you could angle yourself to have more room. There was also a very nice padding provided to lay on top of the extended seat for sleeping. We both did indeed sleep, but I'd say I probably slept about twice or more of the amount Kim did - easily over six hours on this particular flight.
We had two choices for our main meal - one Japanese, one international. I went with the international which was roast beef & potatoes.
We both passed the time "easier" than what you'd think by watching movies and Kim had purchased coloring books & markers which we both did for a while. Upon arrival in Tokyo it was a short walk to our gate and we were told we could wait in the lounge. What was interesting here was that in Chicago we were not "members" of the United Club so we went to the alternate "Polaris Lounge" which was part of our ticket package. Here in Tokyo there was only the United Club and we were welcomed to come in and spend the two hours between flights.
We boarded just a little delayed onto our flight to Hanoi, which was slated to arrive at 10:15pm local time in Hanoi, a five hour and 45 minute flight. Our Business Class "apartment" was smaller than on the long flight but still very comfortable. Both of us enjoyed a small meal and both of us were able to get a couple more hours of sleep. We arrived early, at a little before 10pm local time. We were one of the first ones off the plane and only five people ahead of us at customs. Went out to luggage and it arrived within fifteen minutes. Out the door and met the waiting Viking host right away and he told us we were waiting on one more couple. They were on our flight but somehow they were another 40 minutes before they came out.
Walked to the bus by our Viking guide and then had a 30 minute bus ride to the Pan Pacific Hanoi luxury hotel downtown.
Both of us agreed that the trip really wasn't bad. OK, VERY long, but at no point in the entire trip did either of us feel like "Oh my, HOW much longer is it." And now we're here - from the time we walked out our front door to meet our Uber driver at 4:45am until we walked into our room here in Hanoi it was a total travel day of 32 hours. Yes....it was long. But we were entertained and slept a good amount of it away. Tomorrow morning we will meet our good friends Valerie & John (who arrived mid-day today) - whom we met on our Viking Egypt adventure. We have a meeting with our Program Director at 8:30 am - and we're happy he will be with us here, in Cambodia, on the ship, and in Thailand! Tomorrow's big adventure is an all-day city tour with multiple stops! WE MADE IT!
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