En Route: 19+ Hours from SFO to Singapore

Ravi and I boarded quite smoothly at SFO for our midnight flight to Singapore. Most flights to India from SFO run late in the night so there were few lines. At the departure gate the most striking feature was the large number of elderly Indians seated in wheelchairs, lined up to board the plane before all other passengers. After 10 or so elderly passengers boarded another pattern emerged, the 15-20 families with young children lined up for pre-boarding. It was quite a contrast to the typical New York or LA domestic flights to which I'm more accustomed.

Traveling Economy Class on Singapore is not bad at all. TV screens behind every seat, with audio/video/gaming options have been standard ever since my earliest memory of flying Singapore as a young boy. The quality of food is good and there are great snacks and cocktails available at any time. I'm thinking of living largely as a vegetarian on this trip so kicked of our in flight meals with the tasty "Indian Vegetarian" option. I got about 5 hours of sleep, otherwise I mostly read thru my India and SE Asia Lonely Planet guides.

After a 1.5 hour layover in Hong Kong we continued on to Singapore. Ravi and I each sipped a refreshing "Singapore Sling", the only cocktail either of us consumed on the whole 19 hour journey. The last, and perhaps most important point to note with Singapore Air's service (just kidding guys) is that essentially all the hostesses are demur, polite, and beautiful and all wear a traditional one piece Singaporean dress. Also essential to my sanity on the very pleasant 19 hour flight (can't stress the duration enough) was the awesome selection of movies, Batman I & II (the new ones), Wall-E, Entourage the tv show, so forth and so on.