Brunei, Pt 1

My Journey of a Life Time, Brunei - Part 1.

April 16th, 2008

Today began just as any other day, the only difference being the day started at 3:30am as opposed to the standard 6:30am alarm buzzing. What is the purpose of the early wake up call? My semi-spontaneous work paid travel 12,000km across the globe.

Initially when work had told me that I would be leaving the country less than 48 hours after arriving back in the country from my sisters wedding, I was less than enthused. More specifically I almost told my boss to take the job, the trip and shove it right up his arse. Really, that would have been a stupid move to do as I do, momentarily, like my job and the people that I work with. I took the news of the trip in stride as I was still trying to deal with packing for my sisters wedding. Did I happen to mention that I was told about the trip 4 days before I was supposed to leave for my sisters wedding?

I arrive at the airport in Fredericton with instructions from my coworkers to check my luggage so that it will arrive in Brunei without me having to touch it anywhere along the way. The fellow at the check-in counter looked at me funny when I told him of this and then had to verify what I told him, he then proceeded to look up the airline that I was to be travelling on in the system to see if he could do this. He told me that he was not able to do that as it was not part of the “Star Alliance” family of planes. (I thought he was full of crap, and the young gentleman in Toronto at the Cathay Pacific counter confirmed this when he told me it was strange that they wouldn't forward the luggage along.)

The flight leaves Fredericton without a problem and before I could blink twice we arrived in Toronto. (And by “blinking twice” I mean before I registered that we were flying I was asleep.) Seeing as how I was just in Toronto the week before, navigating my way to the Monorail (What'd he say? Monorail! Everybody now. Monorail! Monorail! [Sorry, some necessary Simpsons humor that I couldn't avoid.]) for Terminal 3 was a piece of cake. I walked for what seemed to be miles looking for counters 501-510 which I got from the screen, for Cathay Pacific. I rounded the corner and found that ticket counters empty as it wasn't time to check-in. It was 7am in Toronto and I had 4 hours until my flight left.

I checked in and the young fellow at the counter asked me for my luggage claim tags so that he could ensure they were being routed by Air Canada (which by that time they weren't), he also told me that they would get my luggage retagged and sent to Brunei with me so I wouldn't have to worry about it when I got to the Hong Kong airport. Sweet.

10:00am arrives and I go upto the counter to find out the status of my luggage transfer and they still haven't received it from Air Canada. I begin to panic a little as the only thing I have in my carry on is a stick of deodorant and movies. Shortly before I'm to begin boarding I get a page from the people at the desk who have my new luggage claim tags so that I can pick up my luggage in Brunei without a problem. Phew.

I look outside at the plane, and its HUGE. By far the biggest plane I've ever been on. Its a Boeing 777-300ER (for those who want to Wikipedia it). As my row is called, I can't help but thinking that this is going to be one weirdass ride. I get on the plane and I'm floored by the sheer volume of seats. This is the first plane that I've seen that's had an actual “First Class” section and a real “Business Class” section that has little individual sleepers.

I navigate my way through people and luggage and behold in amazement at what I see. My seat has a headrest with sides the fold out and around your head to form a pillow. (which is good as I forgot to buy one.) Also, is an interactive media center with games, radio, tv, movies all at the click of a button. They have the first 7 episodes of Heroes Season 2 which I might consider watching (most likely I'll end up watching one of the movies that I brought with me, such as the Black & White version of the Mist). I'm sitting here looking at the screen which is flashing images of the time its going to take to fly, the length of the trip and the like when I make a startling discovery.... on the map on the screen shows us flying NORTH. ....

I'M FLYING OVER THE NORTH FLIPPIN' POLE!!!

How awesome is that!?

Even better they have a live version of the flight which shows its progress as we make our way to Hong Kong, and they also have a live camera on the front of the plane somewhere where I can see what the Pilots are seeing.

I don't know about you, but I'm officially impressed with this plane and this journey up until this point.