Vancouver - Los Angeles - Kuala Lumpur - Singapore - Dubai - Doha - New York

Join me as I travel around the world in 9 days
on four of the world's five-star airlines

Friday, May 23, 2008

The Adventure Begins

"Most of my treasured memories of travel are recollections of sitting." - Robert Thomas Allen


An appropriate quote, I thought, considering the journey that stands in front of me. I'm at Vancouver International Airport waiting for my Alaska Airlines flight to Los Angeles. From there I'll connect to my first 5-star flight on Malaysia Airlines, a bum numbing 19+ hour trek to Kuala Lumpur. With the thought of sitting in economy class for this flight, I find myself asking why I didn't pitch a story on the first class service of 5-star airlines (maybe that'll be my next story). I remind myself that it can't be that bad, these are premium airlines after all.


For anyone who has traveled to Asia, and paid attention to the moving map (isn't that the best channel on the plane), the quickest way west is actually to go north. This evening I will spend a couple of hours flying south to California, only to fly north to Asia. In fact, in the wee hours of tomorrow our 747 will fly past the coast of British Columbia. It's a shame that I couldn't just head out and flag down the passing airplane, like hitch-hiking on the highway. It would save me hours in travel time.

Below is a rendering of my westerly trip around the world.






I'll see you in Kuala Lumpur in about 24 hours or so.