I have a lot I really should write about (and over 8000 photos I need to edit through and post on photos), but I’ve been having trouble working up the energy to do anything these days other than work and collapse into a mindless blob afterward. So here’s my attempt at writing stuff out before I let life updates lapse again.
Photos will come later. Probably. Maybe. (At least life’s photo journal and stats pages have been updated on time.)
I took a work sabbatical this past summer, and spent the first part of it travelling to Thailand with my mom. There’s a lot I could write about the trip itself, including how much I surprisingly enjoyed the back-to-back-to-back travel within Thailand (because normally I prefer my vacations to be sedimentary), but the biggest thing I want to document was the travel experience itself.
For money reasons (ha!) we flew United first class from Pittsburgh to Chicago, and then ANA international business class from Chicago to Tokyo to Bangkok (and likewise on the way back from Bangkok to Tokyo to Chicago). The domestic first class was mostly “whatever” (definitely wouldn’t be worth paying extra for on its own), but international business class… oh my god. I have never arrived at a destination so *relaxed* and *rested* and *unstressed*.
Going into the flight, I was expecting the best part to be the food, because I love eating (and drinking) and the menu for the flights looked amazing, especially the abundance (and variety) of snack foods available at any time. But the benefits of business class by far was the lie-flat seat and the airport lounge access. The seat meant I could actually, properly, comfortably sleep and wake up without pain in my neck or shoulders or back (which was important for the ~29 hour door-to-door travel). And the lounges meant I had a place to sit (with free food and drink) without having to fight the large crowds in the airport, complete with well-maintained bathrooms and showers (although I didn’t use the latter).
The return Tokyo to Chicago leg also featured ANA’s “new” business class, with a closing “door” and a wider seat where my mom and I could literally sit next to each other.
And oh yeah, all of the food was also delicious. So that part definitely didn’t disappoint either.
The expense wouldn’t be worth it for shorter flights, but for over a day of travel, it felt more than worth the price. Especially given we had booked business in the first place because economy tickets were more than triple (!!) their usual cost and business seats were slightly cheaper than usual, making the price difference between them much smaller than usual.
In any case, after we got back from Thailand, I still had some sabbatical left, and I guess was feeling the itch to make up for the lack of pandemic travel… so we promptly booked a Fourth of July trip to Denver and Colorado Springs, to see some friends along with the rest of my family. It was great to catch up with David again, meet some new online friends for the first time, and generally spend time with my cousin and her husband.
After that, I had the usual summer get-together with my in-laws in late July, and then traveled to San Francisco for work at the beginning of August. The work trip itself wasn’t particularly noteworthy except for the fact that we then flew to Seattle afterward (instead of home), saw some friends there for a few days, and then took a cross-country Amtrak home (via Chicago).
The Amtrak was… an experience. It’s been something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but now having done it, I’m not sure it’s something I feel the need to do again given the price and (relatively lack of) amenities. The best part of the trip by far was the food (three cooked-to-order meals a day in the dining car, including three-course dinners) followed by the views (especially from the observation car). But the relatively small room (we had a roomette) and repellent shower (which I didn’t use during the trip, meaning I arrived at home three days later feeling disgusting) were less ideal, and the price (around $1000) made the entire experience feel not really worth it.
I learned afterward that the ticket costs only cover something like 65% of the operating costs for the train, which just makes me feel like passenger rail in this country is stupidly behind. I assume operating costs would amortize out much better with more passengers, which would bring the price way down to something more reasonable (and cover a higher percentage of the costs), but it’s the usual catch-22 with public transit: Cut services so no one wants to ride so you have to cut services so even fewer people ride so you have to cut services so…
In any case, our travel for the summer isn’t done yet, but at the moment I’m enjoying being at home for more than two weeks in a stretch since May.
So… yeah. Hooray for things?
We now return to your regularly-scheduled lack of updates.
