Introduction
ANA Business Class Chicago to Tokyo
United Club – Tokyo Narita
Thai Airways Business Class Tokyo to Bangkok
One Night in Bangkok
Thai Airways Business Class Bangkok to Bali
D’Wina Villa Kuta and Exploring Bali (Part 1)
Exploring Bali (Part 2)
Exploring Bali (Part 3)
Ethiopian Airlines Bangkok to Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine Lounge and Addis Ababa to Seychelles
Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort and Exploring the Seychelles (Part 1)
Exploring the Seychelles (Part 2)
Exploring the Seychelles (Part 3)
Ethiopian Airlines Seychelles to Addis Ababa and Back to the US

After a very comfortable flight on ANA from Chicago to Tokyo and a refreshing shower and visit to the United Club in Tokyo, we were ready to continue our journey.  We left Chicago around noon local time on Sunday, September 15.  Tokyo is 14 hours ahead of Chicago, so combining the time change with a 12+ hour flight, we landed in Tokyo in the early afternoon local time on Monday, September 16.  The flight from Tokyo to Bangkok is still about 6.5 hours long – it’s rather surprising how Asia is still relatively spread out.  You’d picture Japan to not be that far from Thailand, but it’s actually almost the same distance as Boston to Dublin:

We were scheduled to leave Tokyo at 5:25 pm, which would put us into Bangkok at 9:55 pm, ideally giving us some time to head into the city to check out the sites for a little bit.  The last flight of the day from Bangkok to Bali was at about 7:00 pm, so we knew we’d be spending one night in Bangkok and had booked a hotel near the airport until our flight at 9:10 am the next morning.  Unfortunately, with a nearby typhoon, all flights in and out of Tokyo were running about 2 hours late.

We left the United Club around 6:30 pm and made our way to Gate 46 where our flight was scheduled for a 7:25 pm departure.  I was excited for this flight in particular because it would be on the Airbus A380, which is a (relatively) new double-decker, and there’s just something fascinating about how something that massive can get off the ground and fly halfway across the world.  Since we were flying in Business Class, our seats would be on the upper deck.  Since it was dark, it was hard to get a good picture of our plane with the glare off the windows:

When walking down the jetbridge to the plane, it actually splits into 2 separate jetbridges: 1 for the lower level and one for the upper level.  We proceeded up to the upper level for Royal Silk Class (aka Business Class):

The Business Class seats on Thai’s A380 are completely lie flat, and very comfortable both for relaxing as well as sleeping.  As we settled into our seats, we were served pre-departure champagne and Crabtree & Evelyn amenity kits were distributed:

While waiting to push back from the gate, one of the flight attendants informed us that due to heavy traffic trying to leave Tokyo, we’d be delayed about another 45 minutes – fortunately, the flight attendants brought around drinks and even started serving appetizers, which was a very nice gesture.  As predicted, about 45 minutes later, we pushed back from the gate.  As we taxied to the runway, I was amazed at how quiet and smooth the plane was.  Especially on the upper deck, we could hardly hear the engines at all.  Lauren dozed off to sleep, and even the take off didn’t wake her.  The revving up of the engines for take off was hardly even noticeable, and in no time, we were on our way.

Lauren ordered a noodle dish with shrimp, and I ordered the sea bass with rice.  Lauren’s meal was much better than mine…the sea bass was ok, but the shrimp and noodles were delicious.  After dinner, a very tasty chocolate mousse was served for dessert (sorry, it was too good that we didn’t have time to take a picture):

By the time we finished eating, we were both still feeling tired, so we slept for about 3 hours.  The seat reclines into a completely flat bed.  There was no mattress pad, like on our ANA flight (ANA is one of the first airlines to introduce mattress pads in Business Class), but the seat was still very comfortable.  The pillow and blanket were also decent sized:

Before we knew it, we were on our descent into Bangkok.  As with many Business Class cabins, the seating arrangement was in a 1-2-1 pattern, so in order to have seats next to each other, we were in the center section.  This type of setup has the huge positive of every seat having direct aisle access; nobody has to climb over anybody else in order to get out of there seat.  The only downside is that if you’re wanting to sit next to someone, you won’t have a good view out the window (although it was dark during the whole flight, so there wasn’t much to see anyway!)  We touched down in Bangkok around 12:30 am, about 2 1/2 hours late..

Overall, Thai Airways was excellent – the seat was very comfortable (although the mattress pad on ANA was a really nice touch to put that seat in a league of its own), and the service was great.  I thought it was particularly telling during the extra 45 minute delay on the ground, as they proactively adjusted the food schedule and began preparing the appetizers for us during the delay.  Most airlines would continue to serve drinks, but the flight attendants would rather not work during this extra time.

With our scheduled 9:55 pm arrival, we had originally planned to make our way into Bangkok during the evening to see the sites, but by the time we actually arrived around 1:00 am, the trains had shut down and  we were running short on time.  Nonetheless, we were committed to at least getting a little bit of Thai culture around our hotel….

Continue to Part 5: One Night in Bangkok