Taking Off

Kansai Airport was located in the middle of a bay on a reclaimed piece of land. As a result, it had a short runway and was exposed to all the elements. And on that particular morning, it was raining with strong winds. Hence, the take-off was rather rough.

And it was rough for the next 30 minutes until we reached the cruising altitude. The flight was also longer than expected due to a 200km/h headwind. We were scheduled to be 45 minutes late.

To kill time, I watched a couple of movies. I never liked traveling during day light as I won't be able to sleep ....

More entries from my Kyoto trip here.

The Journey Home

A 12 hour flight used to be a doodle when I was a student. Now it was becoming a drag. I guess I was starting to show my age actually. But this flight being MAS were amongst the best as far as economy class was concerned. For business, take one of the Middle Eastern carriers, but with the drawback would be having to transit on the way rather than a direct one. And transit could be a pain.

The flight coming and out this time around was a bit too rocky for my liking, especially across the Andaman Sea. But the in flight service was good as usual, and I managed to catch some movies, a luxury really. On the flight back, I slept for about four hours, as it would be late afternoon at landing, and I didn't want to be wide awake tonight.

I also noticed that this being the flagship MAS flight - MH001 - the crew were also rather senior, but definitely offered great service. Experience counts I was sure. The flight landed on time, but as usual, it took nearly 45 minutes for my luggage to clear through. I didn't have a choice but to check in from the amount of shopping I did.

Unfortunately I had to work tomorrow. Now with unpacking done and the children in bed, I was chatting with Anita about the trip. She wished that she could come along. And so did I. Maybe in the next couple of years, as it would not be cheap to bring the two boys along. When I showed the photos from my trip last weekend, both of them were excited. So much so that Irfan actually slept in one of the T shirt I brought home for him.