I guess this was a few different firsts for me: the longest direct flight I’ve ever taken at more than seventeen hours (New York to Bangkok), and the first time I’ve ever flown first (and not business) class on a trans-oceanic flight.  I have to say that flying in row two in a 747 makes the duration of the flight a little more endurable.  There is something to be said for a full seven foot lie-flat bed with service that is never equaled on American airlines.  That said, no flight is ever in the realm of "fun".

Emerging from the plane in 92 degree humidity is little different than Singapore, and a blast of reality after leaving snowfall in Boston.  You couldn’t pay, bribe or force me into living here for any length of time.  (Maybe I should re-think the dream of living in Israel after being there in the summer for a week.)  The heat in this part of world is only relieved for the briefest of moments during those 5-10 minutes of rain torrents.  Unless you’ve actually been at the equator for a rain storm, it’s hard to understand what this is like.  Raindrops the size of small Volkswagen Bugs coming down in force for a seemingly endless few moments … followed by sticky hot sunshine.

Anyway, I did have the pleasure of flying over Afghanistan on the way here (is anyone else surprised by that?) but I didn’t see any SAMs coming our way despite the excellent view.  I was a bit surprised that we flew east (well, really we flew over the North Pole and came down over Moscow) when most of the trips to Singapore go west.  Perhaps that’s because I typically go on United through China to Singapore and this flight was Thai Airways.  I don’t know.  I do know that it’s a loong loooong flight and right now, I’m going to bed.  🙂