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Welcome IR. Looking forward to your posts. Make a dozen or so in Prospects level and we'll elevate you to Advanced where there is much more content.

I know ... I mean the crew operating the flight from Houston to Narita. Other than the Alabama guy piloting it, the crew was mostly Jap. The co-pilot was from 10 miles down the road from the ranch. He retired pre-china plague and United brought him back for a 50% salary bump. That flight is still UA7 and on a United plane which is important for me because it has the 4 classes of seating, i.e., Business, Premium Economy Plus, Economy Plus and Filth & Scum class. ANA planes are mostly still 3 classes and my Million-Miler status at United upgrades me out of F&S automatically on United planes but not on ANA planes.

United doesn’t have any Japan based flight crews. Tokyo ended as a crew base a couple of years ago. London is the only crew base outside the US

caat have mandated masks on flights in to thailand .

The Japs have another quirk during china plague in that they de-plane those staying in Japan first and make international transit passengers sit and wait. Makes for some nervous folks on short connections but it works out ok. Then you get guided to a transfer desk where they scrutinize your documents. On a sunnier side of the soi ... you no longer go through security transiting through Narita, so + and - I reckon. As far as masks go, no masks required by United even with the Jap based crew but diapers required in Jap airports and on their planes to Bangkok.

I asked for a sarnie that took 75 mins to eat……

Agree 1,000% I had same on Air Austria quite Hitlerian until they served food and wine and then all masks were off. I think it's a control thing ...

I don’t think the airlines know what’s going on. Masked all the way from Bangkok to Paris then CDG was unmasked. I’m not sure if they go on the point of origin or if it’s due to a plane being deemed a greater risk. 12 hours in a mask isn’t fun regardless. I don’t really understand their logic either as the masks come off for food so if someone has it then it’s going to surely get transmitted around the aircraft then?

I had to mask up with Luftansa yesterday AND on the German trains. That country is a basket case if ever I saw on and I’ll NEVER fly into Frankfurt again. EIGHT cooking hours yesterday from entering the airport to boarding the plane and most of that was queuing

My usual strategy during the plague is to just throw a blanket over my head and pretend to be sleeping and take 2 hours to eat each slop served, but this time I'm going to also wear what we call a 'neck gaiter' in the US which we use before china plague to both protect the neck from sunburn and dirt and bugs to the face/nose area while on a motorcycle. Also useful for popping into NWG bars or robbing 7/11s.

I had to mask up on Air France and Singapore. For the record never flying Air France again, even Premium Economy was shit and don’t like the clientele.

No mate, no masks mandatory at any point on the way out here . .

So did they make you mask up on the plane? I think I'll be required to do so on my upcoming trip on the 2nd and I hate those things.

Defo wouldn't call myself HiSo, just a normal guy, but do like the finer things in life. Also luckily have (or had now) a shedload of Hilton Honors points . . . Fortunate to therefore be a Diamond member, so free room upgrades, Exec lounge access for free beer and red wine for 2 hours every evening, free breakfast. All that kind of adds up to a fair saving in what I would have spent outside. That's how I justify it anyway . . Will try to make TQ if time permits around my moving element and I'll look out for the rounders cap . . Will defo see you guys at Rockhouse whatever happens. Looking forward to it.

Well ... didn't know you were a HiSo. Best this MidSo has done on a Pattaya Hotel has been Page10, but as long as you don't mind mixing with balloon chasers, some of us will be nursing Leos around 4pm. I'll be the guy in a blue rounders cap with a bowl of popcorn.

Muggy old vest cases and half term predators more like …

BTW I hope the balloon chasers are lithe, sexy, brown females . .

Thanks for the heads up on TQ. Love that place . . . What time are you guys planning on getting there? I'll try to make it to TQ. Gonna be a busy day as I move out of Hilton on 4th and hopefully move into a condo, which again hopefully will be finalised tomorrow. If not I'll either extend my stay at Hilton or move somewhere else.

Loving the chase up

Word on the soi is that there may be some balloons to chase at RH Monday evening. Cool kids will be at TQ a bit earlier for the gourmet popcorn or so I am told.

Hey Sean, it was good mate thanks. Finnair were good (apart from an admin screw up when I booked, when they took the cost of my flight and extra bags then took the same amount again as a "pending" transaction, which held up £1,300 in my bank account for a couple of days, c***s ). Thankfully my 3 bags did arrive. Always worries me when changing planes, though there was a 1 hour 45 mins transit time in Helsinki. I've had lost bags before and it was a nightmare. That was for a holiday, to lose them when I'm actually moving would be just awful. Especially as I had a stash of my cigars spread over the 3 bags . . I'm at Hilton in Pattaya now, while I search for a rental condo to the spec I want. Looking promising, should be sorted tomorrow. Great hotel, love the Exec lounge, free red wine and food for 2 hours . . Had a bunch of things to sort out, thankfully everything went very smoothly. Got my Thai phone back up and running with a new number and both my Thai bank accounts are still live, despite them being dormant for the last 2.5 years. On Kasikorn the mobile app is still live too, which is a real bonus. Bangkok Bank account was still live, but because my phone number changed there was a shedload of paperwork and it's going to take a week or two before the mobile app is live again. Kasikorn needed to update my phone number, but it was an easy process, done during my one and only visit, despite the branch at which I opened it being closed down. Pattaya is quiet, but I have a feeling it'll get busy over the next weeks, now that Thai restrictions are being lifted. Still loads of lovely girls about though . . . Bring it on . .

So how was your flight out and the settling in ? Did your luggage arrive .... looks like an Amazon warehouse just now !!!

Will there be cheese and garlic bean dip provided if Monsieur de Bali turns up ???

555, that's almost offensive, sort of like asking a frog if there will be cheese and garlic. There is always bean dip.

Will you have Jalapeño bean dip for him ?? He knows the States very well ...