A Perfect Day in Travel
Singapore, July 28th 2005...it is about 930 AM and it is already 88 degrees and feels like a Turkish Bath....
RARELY does a day happen when one is far from home which is truly perfect and I want to report that such a day happened to me yesterday, one which could have been fraught with unpleasantness.
At Auckland, dear Chris (the transfer man in his rather bizarre Cadillac with the right hand steering wheel) called for me on a gorgeous Auckland winter morning, about 50 degrees and clear.....whisked to the quite pleasant Auckland Airport and into the VIP room at Air New Zealand. They have done away with First Class but their business is A+, absolutely up to what First Class used to be (though never WAS on American carriers) minus only the Beluga.....the flight to Singapore was a daunting 12 hours....one leaves azure-green NZ and flies across the Tasman Sea for three hours...Brisbane and (even from the air) its ghastly looking "Surfers Paradise" coast south (ala Cancun)....and then astoundingly for 5 straight hours, roughly the distance from Miami to Seattle, the outback: infinity to the horizon..looking from the air like those hideous parts of Wyoming short of the Tetons...but going on for bloody EVER...perfection: a window seat to myself, a steward and stewardess devoted to the 24 Business Class seats on the Boeing 767....only 15 passengers up front, back jammed....
Meal number one: lunch out of Auckland:
a platter of smoked snapper, lightly seared tuna, tiger prawns a feta...
a braised duck with star anise
a coconut panna cotta
lots of fruist
lots of NZ cheeses
and 12 bottles of NZ wine to choose from...I went with a lovely Chardonnay to a very good pinot noir to a local port which wasn't half bad....
then Australia....the whole damned panorama of it.....
we crossed the coast heading towards Lombok and Bali...Lombok clear and we could see that massive volcano which had been occluded the whole time Ellison, Tony, Joe and I cruised around that blessed island....
then dinner: a venison and veal terrine
a onfit of chicken with pureed kumara, warm leeks and water cress salad an apricot bavarois more cheeses more great wine....I ran the gamut.....
and in between they served tea with pretty little tidbits...
Arrived Singapore....first off plane and at passport the inspector (Indian) gave me a pepppermint (mmmmmm....?....) bags off plane FIRST (priority checking in business) and in exactly 14 minutes from step off-plane to being whisked by the Goodwood Park driver into their hugely air conditioned big mercedes.....
through outrageously well landscaped city....sweltering of course....it is ALWAYS Houston-New Orleans here....to the Goodwood Park, one of my favorite hotels on planet earth....the old private club where Ellison-Tony and I stayed..(the joyous upgrading ith lots of light, a new pool...and Fred upgraded from a standard to a supernal poolside suite with enough rooms to ask 40 people in for drinks (if I knew 40 people here)....I know that Singapore which spreads around me is one of the most massively boring cities on planet earth (read Paul Theroux on the subject...he lived here for years)....but I am off in a minute to see that fabulous jade collection and to walk in the botanical garden...
You see....perfection in travel!....and today something just must happen which isn't.....though I haven't consulted by horoscope.
-FRED
RARELY does a day happen when one is far from home which is truly perfect and I want to report that such a day happened to me yesterday, one which could have been fraught with unpleasantness.
At Auckland, dear Chris (the transfer man in his rather bizarre Cadillac with the right hand steering wheel) called for me on a gorgeous Auckland winter morning, about 50 degrees and clear.....whisked to the quite pleasant Auckland Airport and into the VIP room at Air New Zealand. They have done away with First Class but their business is A+, absolutely up to what First Class used to be (though never WAS on American carriers) minus only the Beluga.....the flight to Singapore was a daunting 12 hours....one leaves azure-green NZ and flies across the Tasman Sea for three hours...Brisbane and (even from the air) its ghastly looking "Surfers Paradise" coast south (ala Cancun)....and then astoundingly for 5 straight hours, roughly the distance from Miami to Seattle, the outback: infinity to the horizon..looking from the air like those hideous parts of Wyoming short of the Tetons...but going on for bloody EVER...perfection: a window seat to myself, a steward and stewardess devoted to the 24 Business Class seats on the Boeing 767....only 15 passengers up front, back jammed....
Meal number one: lunch out of Auckland:
a platter of smoked snapper, lightly seared tuna, tiger prawns a feta...
a braised duck with star anise
a coconut panna cotta
lots of fruist
lots of NZ cheeses
and 12 bottles of NZ wine to choose from...I went with a lovely Chardonnay to a very good pinot noir to a local port which wasn't half bad....
then Australia....the whole damned panorama of it.....
we crossed the coast heading towards Lombok and Bali...Lombok clear and we could see that massive volcano which had been occluded the whole time Ellison, Tony, Joe and I cruised around that blessed island....
then dinner: a venison and veal terrine
a onfit of chicken with pureed kumara, warm leeks and water cress salad an apricot bavarois more cheeses more great wine....I ran the gamut.....
and in between they served tea with pretty little tidbits...
Arrived Singapore....first off plane and at passport the inspector (Indian) gave me a pepppermint (mmmmmm....?....) bags off plane FIRST (priority checking in business) and in exactly 14 minutes from step off-plane to being whisked by the Goodwood Park driver into their hugely air conditioned big mercedes.....
through outrageously well landscaped city....sweltering of course....it is ALWAYS Houston-New Orleans here....to the Goodwood Park, one of my favorite hotels on planet earth....the old private club where Ellison-Tony and I stayed..(the joyous upgrading ith lots of light, a new pool...and Fred upgraded from a standard to a supernal poolside suite with enough rooms to ask 40 people in for drinks (if I knew 40 people here)....I know that Singapore which spreads around me is one of the most massively boring cities on planet earth (read Paul Theroux on the subject...he lived here for years)....but I am off in a minute to see that fabulous jade collection and to walk in the botanical garden...
You see....perfection in travel!....and today something just must happen which isn't.....though I haven't consulted by horoscope.
-FRED
posted by ultimatetraveler at 6:40 AM
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