G & J away from home

Tuesday, 16 June 2015

Other than the appalling (and predicted rain) our trip to the airport was uneventful and even checking in was straight-forward, though I intended to take my laptop out of the bag that I usually carry on but was this leg becoming a checked bag as we had an extra bag allowance.  Forgetting to take the laptop out was more of concern about the state of my brain than for the welfare of the laptop which seems to travel all right any time it accidentally gets checked.

Waiting to check in

The lady on the Air New Zealand counter assured us that the plane wasn't full and that we could have a window seat and an aisle seat, with a spare seat between - our preferred configuration.  While I was wandering around waiting for our boarding call I took some photos - of the plane:

Our aircraft

 of the very wet tarmac and the East China Sea beyond:

Watery tarmac and East China Sea beyond

and of the rather nice building:

Departure area

The ceiling of the building was unmarred by wiring and ducting as this was all supplied through large 'boxes' the size of half-sized shipping containers, which were spaced along the floor.  A clever design solution.

We we got aboard I was quite chuffed to find I was being welcomed by name!

It knows who I am!

Also pleased to find the seating was as advised, the plane was very empty and the cabin staff were advising that after take-off we could go and find our own set of seats, and that it was a Boeing 787 Dreamliner which had a very spacious cabin area which never for a moment makes me feel claustrophobic.

The flight path surprised me as we flew east to Nagasaki and then turned south for New Zealand - not quite as shown on the display:

Airshow - turn right a Nagasaki

Also surprising for this geography genius, Korea is north of Shanghai!  (Apologies to Angela and Heung Bae, next door at home, for knowing so little about their country of origin.)

I loved everything about the Dreamliner, especially that when the seat in front of me reclined the movement at the top of the seat was no more than 6 or 7 cm in my direction, again avoiding triggering the feeling of claustrophobia that I usually get when somebody reclines and suddenly I can't even hold my Kindle between the seat and my face.

I wasn't so sure about the electronically tinted windows.  Here's Gary's window tinted (by him) during daylight, with our view of the wing through it:

View of the wing through the electronically dimmed window

When the cabin staff were settling everybody down for 'the night' all of the cabin windows were tinted at once, by them, and seemed to go much darker.

I read for a while and watched the airshow, but as I don't usually sleep on the aircraft I eventually looked around for something to watch and found this:

A series so good I watched it twice!

It was such a great series (but hey, what's the idea about providing episodes 1, 2, 3, and 5 of a 6-part series?) that I watched it all twice and at an hour per episode that happily took care of my 'night' on the plane.

All-in-all it was the best ever long-haul flight.  Super (spacious) plane, great entertainment.  The time just flew!
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