Ted did the math: door to door it took us something like 27 hours to get from our flat in Taipei to our apartment in Chandler, Arizona (about 2 miles from our old house).
I’d have to say that as 27-hour trips go, this was a remarkably good one. The only disappointment was not being able to get a magazine on the flight. Note to Chiang Kai-Shek airport: it’s possible that other people besides me would prefer less of the Chanel, Ferragamo, Mont Blanc and other luxury goods and more things people actually need for travel. I got off the first plane, a 2.5 hour flight to Tokyo, surprised at realizing I’d actually had a pleasant trip. The boy (being a Platinum Elite member on Northwest thanks to all those KLM flights to the Netherlands) got bumped up to Business Class. This left me (only Gold Elite, since he travels a bit more) back in Commerical class with an entire row to myself. I was also pleased to realize that this regular seat had far more legroom than the preferred seats I get on KLM, and that the food was actually edible.
In Tokyo-Narita after walking to three different magazine racks and the diametrically opposite corner of the terminal, finally found an English-language magazine other than Newsweek: the July issue of In Style. They did at least have lots of Japanese magazines.
The next flight was 9+ hours, Tokyo to Portland. This time we had a brand new Airbus A330 plane, with about 20 on-demand movies to choose from. I watched Mamma Mia! twice. 🙂 I liked that movie a lot, though why is a separate post. We did have a hair less legroom, especially since the entertanment system took up most of the room below the seats. Fortunately, when checking in I’d been able to switch our seats so at least one of us was on the aisle (him – he’s a lot taller) which left an empty seat next to me so I could put my backpack on the floor by it.
We had a 6-hour layover in Portland, but luckily the restaurants and bookstores open early there. Powell’s yielded some readng material, of course – the airplane branches intelligently have a whole section of travel writing, though what I actually ended up with was Georgette Heyer and The Egg and I.
The last flight gave us a great view of Nevada and Arizona topography, including mountains with snow and the Grand Canyon. Once in AZ, we picked up a surprisingly large rental car (a station wagonish Chevy model I’d never heard of) and one of the things we’ve been missing: Chipotle burritos! Our hotel room turns out to be a suite. Pity we’re only here a week: I wish I’d had something like this on all those months of stays in the Netherlands.