Scotland, Norway, The Netherlands, Malaysia and either Yokohama or Seoul were common stops on round the world trips I used to take about three or four times per year. Sometimes other places like Abu Dhabi or AL Khobar would be in the mix and occasionally Australia and Taiwan. The idea was to group the business in such a way as to circumnavigate the globe and get a discount.
Business Class on Asian and Middle Eastern airlines was a cut above, and I had FF miles on all of them. Sometimes the domestic flights can leave something to be desired. Malaysian Airlines from L.A. to K.L. is fabulous. From K.L. to Johar Baru, pretty average. From J.B. to Sarawak, a real vintage aviation adventure with an aircraft reminiscent of the one in Major Leagues.
They do it at O’Hare too. Also Papeete. I once flew out of Austin Mueller airport and left my car in the long term parking. When we returned, we flew into the brand new Austin-Bergstrom Airport. Thankfully shuttles were provided back to the old airport’s parking facilities.
Seoul-Incheon is a fantastic airport and it needs to be cuz it’s so far from anything but about 20 minutes away is a little island called Muuido with some great beach camping.
My favorite (sic) terminal transfer is the infernal Malpensa/Linate transfer in Milan. There was a 10 year period where airlines would not tell you that it was actually two different airports an hour apart and that you had to find your own way there. One one booking.
The terminals in Jakarta are all right there together, but they just recently built a sky train to connect them. Prior to 2018, to get from one to the other, about 500 ft away, you had to take a taxi or a bus, leave the airport, go out into Jakarta street traffic, and re-enter the airport. That otherwise 3-minute walk could be an hour bus ride.
This is still true. The US airlines, and most of the airports, are shockingly bad compared to the Asian and the Middle Eastern ones. Singapore and Emirates are the top of the heap for me, but I became a big fan of EVA. Hell, I even got to fly on the Hello Kitty plane a few times. Qatar is pretty good, and they always had the best wine selection. Garuda is probably my least favorite, but they’re still notches above United or American.
Oh, I forgot about the buses. My wife and I were going through DFW one time in the early 80’s when it was constantly under construction. They couldn’t take us to actual gates, so we were offloaded from the plane onto one of those buses that they jack up to plane height and then lower down to ground level to drive around, and after everybody is on I’m looking around, and damned if I’m not sitting across from Little Steven. My brush with greatness.
One of my regrets about the times I’ve been to Singapore is not going to the Raffles Hotel to have a Singapore Sling.
I had a drink at an Italian restaurant in Georgetown called an “Italian Handshake”. It was similar to a Sling, with rum, amaretto, cranberry juice, orange juice, and pineapple juice. Mrs. Hawk has requested them to start our drinking tomorrow.
I was flying into Houston from somewhere unmemorable in the mid west on United Express. We landed on the then new 3rd runway and proceeded to taxi for about half an hour to get from there to the terminals. But not actually to the terminals; we parked in a long line of UE Embraers away from the buildings awaiting a bus. A bus that finally showed up to shuttle us to an entrance that was the furthest point it was possible to be from the terminal exit while still being in the same building.
I think about 50% of the duration of journey was the time between wheels touching down and entering the terminal building.
So back to what’s important…I went rum shopping today. Looked for chuck’s recommendation, but it was out of stock. Bought a bottle of Ron Alegro XO from Dominican Republic. Enjoying a glass now, with a cigar. It’s quite tasty.
I was cleaning out my travel wallet this weekend, and found the equivalent of $163.52 in foreign currency from Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, and Kuwait. And that’s just folding money. I probably have another 10 bucks in coins.
More imporantly, I found the rum chuck recommended…Ron Abuelo Anejo 12 Anos. Going to have a sip tonight.
I used to put “spare” currency in an envelope for that country and into a kitchen drawer. I would take out the envelopes when I travelled to that country and put 'em back. I didn’t always remember or sometimes my travel would be diverted to another country so the currency built up for some countries. Now I have envelopes full of worthless currency from now Euro countries and a bunch of Baht and Ringgit along with a big jar of coins. I don’t travel much these days so I don’t suppose I’ll ever spend it.
