NorthWest SIN-NRT-DTW Part II

The SIN-NRT flight was really nice with decent food and nice movies, though I was too tired to catch more than two movies.

Seated beside me was a lady who was in Singapore with her husband for the IMF!! Chatted with her a little on the flight. Her husband was in First Class. They were flying back to New York. They were originally from Mexico but now they hold two passports: Mexican and American. She has a son in Beijing who's now looking for a new job either in Hong Kong or Singapore. She thinks Beijing is nice but she can't stand the air pollution, the dirty enviornment and all the spitting. She likes Singapore a lot... clean, friendly, good food.

Tokyo Narita Airport has had a facelift! Made mental notes to pick up some stuff on the way back! I even brought my Yen notes with me! Hee Hee

The next flight was NRT-DTW (Detroit). Sigh. Lousy old plane. It's the Boeing 747. Lousy old monitor in front, same old seats, blanket which looks used. Eeeeeeee. The air is not clean on the plane cos when I finally took a shower at brother's place, all my clothes have tiny blue lint!!!! Ewww no wonder I sometimes feel there's some tiny bit of lint in my mouth, and a couple of times I did pull one out.

This 11hr plus flight is just so boring. Tried to sleep but woke up couple of times due to : thirst (had to get up and go to the air stewardess area to get my own drink), pee (had too much to drink), butt was too warm (Yes. Had to stand up to air my seat), neck pain (even though I have that U-shaped neck rest thingy), back pain (cos I got into a different position to give my neck a break but that leaves my back unsupported). So you see, not a very comfortable flight.

The flight stewardess and steward were quite nice, actually. Very efficient. Food was decent but breakfast was the second time I had airplane scrambled eggs in less than 24hrs. So don't want to see any eggs for a couple more days. (Well, if they had ketchup on the plane, then the scramble eggs won't be that bad)

Seated beside me this time was a Japanese lady. The moment she sat down, she started to set up her "stuff". Wah.... I thought i wouldn't be able to get out later cos she looks like she's really going to settle in! She inflated her neck rest, a leg rest (boxish thingy which is placed in a plastic bag to keep it clean), sweater, a strip of cloth which she later used to tie her knees together (huh?? wonder why). But luckily, she got up quite often.

The Japnese lady was really nice. Didn't know how to converse fluently in English but was always smiling, nodding her head. Hey! I helped her by interpreting a bit!!!!! haha!!!! no lah.. just "Ocha" for her green tea, and I managed to guess that she wanted milk during breakfast. HAHA!!! Clever me!!!! Most of the time she just order whatever I ordered, eg chicken curry for the dinner and the omelette for breakfast. However, she's not into orange juice, what I usually get.

At 1plus pm (Detroit time), the plane landed at Detroit-Wayne County International Airport (DTW). Finally!

Immigration was not bad. Just had to put left index on scanner, then right index, then smile into the cam. Answer a couple of questions posed by the officer (Mine was a lady who became real nice when she heard that I am a piano teacher. Asked if it's too late for her to pick it up. -- I've noticed ..that's a typical reaction I get from people who have had no training. Those who did would say they're very rusty by now cos they never touched their pianos since don't know when.)

The luggages took a LONG time to come out. Brother said it was because there's a strike on now. But as soon as I got my bags, I cleared customs and was out! Yes!