Update - First Time on Boeing 787

So in my prior post I noted that I would be boarding a Boeing 777.  That observation turned out to be wrong.  The plane was a Boeing 787 "Dreamliner", the newest flag ship of Boeing, currently on production lines in Everett, Washington which I've had the opportunity to tour.

I am typing this as we are getting prepared to land in Tokyo in this beautiful aircraft.  At first glance, it looks rather typical with 3-3-3 seating -- but its most noteworthy upgrade is the windows that can be electronically dimmable from regular/clear through many stages of beautiful, blue tinting.  These windows provided a translucent spaciousness to the artificially created "night" flying as we continued our journey in full daylight -- outpacing the setting sun as we crossed the international date line.  These windows, the spacious "touchless" flushing toilets, the quickly responding, updated entertainment system at each chair and the large, overhead storage bins are great improvements. And I just learned from reading the Wiki article I linked above that All Nippon (ANA) was the launch airline for this new aircraft with commercial service introduced in October 2011 and as of last month Boeing had orders for 1139 of them from 62 customers -- with All Nippon having ordered the most (82). On the negative side, it's also the aircraft that has suffered some widely publicized lithium battery fires that caused its grounding in 2013.

The plane was not full -- perhaps another reason I got a cheap seat - and I got to know my seat mate -- a 33 year old Chinese guy born and raised in Vancouver, Canada who makes his living by teaching ball room dancing.  I've not met very many people in my travels who can volley answers into questions, to refocus the conversation like I usually try to do -- but he was adept at it.  I enjoyed a long conversation that finally gave way to getting a little shut-eye in between two good meals.

And I should also also update my prior rant about security:  All Nippon flight attendants at boarding did finally closely compare boarding pass to passport -- so I'm guessing it's just a different process in Canada with the airline having responsibility for this identification rather than Government employed TSA security, the way it is done in the USA.

Day 1 - April 25 - Starting the Adventure

In booking this "mistake" fare, I took a small risk that my 5th grandchild (3rd granddaughter) would be born close to her due date (April 13) -- and sure enough, Mabel Alice arrived on April 18.  Her arrival set in motion a few changes in my transportation from Portland to my departure airport, Vancouver, Canada, when I learned that my son/his wife and 5 year old daughter Geneva (my 2nd granddaughter) would be visiting Portland this past weekend -- and created an opportunity to ride with the back to their home in Bellingham,Washington -- an easy train and subway ride to Vancouver Airport.  So, that's what I did.

So this morning after we dropped off Geneva at her pre-school on the campus of Western Washington University -- I hopped a AMTRAK Cascade train for a beautiful, mostly ocean-side ride into downtown Vancouver on a beautiful, sunny day - total cost of the ride $12.  Once there, I easily navigated my way to the airport via Vancouver's "sky train" for $2.75 ("concession fare" for the young and seniors -- for others it's $4).

I'm writing this from the boarding area -- where a new-looking ANA Boeing 777 awaits.  Interestingly, I made it all the way through regular security (USA's TSA Pre-check doesn't work here) with only showing an ANA emailed QR code (they automatically checked me in) on my phone and with no one matching the name on the email to my passport.  Hmm?  Quite a contrast from the very caustic questioning that Canada border security had given me when I exited the train:  "Are you traveling alone?...Why are you going to Malaysia? Do you know anybody in Malaysia? What do you do for your living?"  All these were asked with a tone of disbelief -- as if to suggest "Why would anyone travel alone to tour Malaysia where you don't know anybody."  Perhaps she thought that officiousness was necessary in her job.  She ran out of questions when I responded to her demand for what I had done before I retired -- and passed me through.  In hindsight, I wish someone like her was doing the airport security screening!

And finally, to the common question -- how long is your flight?  Well, the answer may well give some insight into why the fare was so cheap.  10 hours to Tokyo, 5 hour layover, 7 hours to Singapore. As I tried to pack too much into too short of time, my initial plan to begin a train journey from entry point into Malaysia (just beyond the causeway that connects from Singapore) gave way to adding a booking on a $29 Air Asia, hour-long flight to Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia's capital and most populous city. Total time enroute on 3 flights: 28 hours.

And the next adventure is underway...

Wanderlusting Cheaply - Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok

In my ever continuing love of budget-minded traveling, I ordered an inexpensive book from Amazon called “How to Fly Free” by a Scott Keyes.  Although the book had no tips that I wasn’t already aware of (and use) — it led me to sign up for Scott’s free email list of deals he finds.  In short order I learned that he has mastered finding what he calls “Mistake Fares.”  While I was my regular suspicious self at first — especially when he wanted a monthly $2 subscription to get even more frequent “deals” emails — I quickly found him to be a reliable source of amazing fares. His book sort of describes how he does it (following certain Twitter accounts, etc) — but his emails take the extra step and tell exactly how to pull it off.

So, that’s the background for how in February I got one of Scott’s emails announcing Mistake Fares for as little as $244 to SE Asia (within certain cities/parameters).  And using those tips I scored a flight from Vancouver to Singapore with a return from Bangkok to Los Angeles for $336 – leaving April 25 and returning May 12, on All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's largest airline, employing 12,000+.

My general plan is to fly to Singapore and make my way to Kuala Lumpur, perhaps stopping in either Penang and/or Phuket on my way to Bangkok. Click here to go to Google Maps and see the general routing of this next adventure.

All older blogs linked at http://www.tworoads.info