[Be prepared…this post is pretty detailed]
Christine and I left CS around 6am and headed to Houston. We got there in good time and parked around 7:45am. After taking the parking shuttle to our Terminal, we went through security (which was a lot easier than I anticipated) and headed to our gate by 8:15. After seeing where we needed to be, we went to the food court to get some breakfast. I was starving but still nervous about eating anything because of my recent air sickness trend.. I ended up getting a blueberry bagel with cream cheese and a chocolate milk. After getting that, I realized that probably wasn’t the best choice in the world and I started to let my brain psych me out about getting sick. I ate one piece of the bagel and wrapped the other and put it in my pocket for later if need be. They put a TON of cream cheese on it so I had to scrape off a lot. I took an Advil to help my progressing stress-related headache and then we went to our gate. I called Marian and talked to her some during that time, although I cut it short at first because I needed to rest some after my all-nighter packing session. I took my Bonine (Dramamine, but lasts longer) so that it would start kicking in and made sure I had my passport, etc. Once it got closer to boarding time, I called Marian back and she was a little emotional which didn’t help me that much (I got a little teary). I told her to have fun with my family tomorrow at Andrew’s birthday party. I then called my mom and let her know I was about to head off. She told me to have a good time and to get her something. 😉 Once we got on the plane and got situated, I said a little prayer to help me calm down. I put in my EarPlanes and the plane took off. I could feel the EarPlanes doing their job during the ascension, so that was good. All was good, no air sickness.
Most of the flight I spent sleeping on and off. We had Video On Demand of a lot of different movies and TV shows, but I slept too much to take full advantage of it. I did finally get to see The Shining and half of Lethal Weapon. That was all in the 14 hour flight. Crazy. The flight wasn’t too bad and the meals were good: Beef, broccoli and rice; chicken enchilada wrap and vanilla ice cream; and eggs, sausage and potatoes. I re-realized that I don’t like the decent to land and that the pressure changes are not fun. The EarPlanes helped, but I could still feel the pressure, just lightened. The plane got warm and there were wafts of the bathroom from time to time and that didn’t help me and my trying-to-fight-air-sickness-at-all-costs mentality. But in the end we landed and all was good. Christine and I roamed the Narita airport, found our gate and got updated boarding passes and then hung out until we had to board our new plane with Singapore Airlines. Another long flight ahead: 7 hours!
The second flight wasn’t that bad. Luckily, Christine and I were able to get seats on the emergency row which meant that we got a lot of leg room. That was a much needed plus that we learned the hard way from the previous flight. The plane we were on was large and had a second floor (for more first class passengers). The staff was really nice and they were all dolled up and had nice uniforms. The only bad thing that happened was that we had to wait in line for probably 30 minutes before we were able to take off. I slept through most of the waiting so it wasn’t really that bad. During the flight we were served one meal, which I had to be woken up for. I was flustered and requested the seafood option…which wasn’t a mistake after all. I was able to eat most of it and it was the first Asian meal I had on the trip. It included some cold noodles that were to be dipped in a sauce before eating as well as some other stuff that I had never had before but still tasted good. Like the previous flight, I slept through most of it. When I wasn’t sleeping, I was enjoying the leg room and watching Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. And once again, no air sickness.
Once we landed in Singapore, Christine and I made our way to Customs and enjoyed looking around the airport. This is where my picture-taking began. The Singapore Airport is really nice inside and they were still decorated for Christmas. There was a spot that had large, lush greenery that was surrounded by huge Christmas ornaments. They were taller than me! After going through Customs, we got our luggage and withdrew currency. I only withdrew S$50 (~$36 USD)…but I should have done more. We then got a cab and were driven to the hotel we were staying for the rest of the night. By that time it was already 2am or so.
We checked in and went up to the room only to discover that there was only one queen-sized bed. We went back down and got a room with two twins (which is what was “reserved” from the beginning, but whatever). The room wasn’t that big and the bathroom was even smaller (probably only 2 square meters…seriously). Either way, it was a clean place to take a much needed shower and get some rest. But before that could happen, we went back down to the lobby and purchased 30 minutes of internet for S$2 so that we could contact our families via email, etc. and let them know that we got in alright. By the time all was said and done (internet, showers, settling in) it was 5am by the time we fell asleep…only to get up at 9am to eat breakfast before it ended at 10am.