My motto when it comes to travel is “just do it!” but after this 35 hour trip I might be willing to add – if you can, “just do it in style.” We left Portland at 5 pm on Sunday and arrived in Bangkok at 7 pm on Tuesday. While this might not sound like fun, Amie and I had a ball since we were flying in business class and, other than the disorganization of LAX, we enjoyed every bit of it.

I fly a lot with my job an was able to save enough points for 2 business class tickets to Asia on Cathay Pacific, thanks to Alaska Airlines and their wonderful mileage program. We flew first class to LA on Alaska and then transferred to Cathay Pacific. LAX was crazy and we spent 2 hours lining up just to check in for our flight. Originally, Amie and I had seats on two separate decks of the airplane but we were able to secure seats next to each other due to the kindness of the man seated next to me, so we were happy. At first glance, I was not impressed with the seats on Cathay, but they had a wonderful entertainment system and the seats stretched out so you could lie nearly flat. And even though I did not plan on sleeping, they soon lulled me to sleep. There were a large number of new release movies, the Forgotten and Motorcycle Diaries were the two I sampled. I also spent a couple of hours playing various computer games on the system. The food was also good and the service was excellent.

Due to issues in LA, we missed our connection from Hong Kong to Bangkok. We did not relish the idea of spending 6 hours at the airport, but that was because we had no idea how great the Cathay Pacific business class lounge was. They had rows of computers with full internet access, personal TV monitors with a large selection of channels, and music on demand. They had a large selection of beers and I felt it was my duty to sample them all. For lunch, they had some of the best noodles we’ve ever had. We did check out the lounge in LA but there is no comparison. It was in an old room with cramped seating areas, as were all the lounges in LA as far as we could tell. Another great feature was the free showers. The water was hot, the shower head was huge, and the water pressure was as strong as I’ve ever seen. So, after 30 hours of travel, I walked out of the shower as fresh as if I had just begun my day. We left the lounge with about half an hour to go and realized that the gate was at the other end of the airport. The signs said it would take 28 minutes to get there, so we took off running but in reality it should only take 10 minutes. We got to the plane with plenty of time and 2 ½ hours later we landed in Bangkok.

After our pleasant trip, it was hard to get in the hot airport bus that took nearly 2 hours to get us to our hotel. Overall, it was a pretty good trip, but given the opportunity of being teleported to my hotel in a couple of seconds, I would take the teleport every time.

p.s. Alaska Airlines and Cathay Pacific personnel: please be advised that it is not against my principals to accept free stuff for my wonderful endorsement of your airlines