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THE LONGEST FLIGHT

Over the next few weeks I will begin to insert a series of travel postings, leading to our Pride of America cruise around the Hawaiian Islands to depart Honolulu on September 2.  Today, ultra-long plane flights, with first a re-look at two of mine.  Just click on any link to read the details.  

  • The 2016 trip took only 24 days:

Long-range flights are now up to 19 hours.  Here is a Condé Nast Traveler account of this record-breaker:

  • Singapore Airlines flew back home from JFK New York in the evening on the Airbus A350-900ULR (ultra long range) in business class.  There is a second daily flight to Singapore from Newark, which departs in the morning and arrives in the evening.  This is the one I would like so I can party for 19 hours.  What a waste to sleep a lot on a long flight.
  • Distance of 9537 miles.
    • #3  Qantas, Perth-London, 9010 miles, 17 hours, 15 minutes.
    • #5  Air New Zealand, Auckland-New York, 8992, 17 hours 50 minutes.
    • #7  Singapore, Singapore-Los Angeles, 8770 miles, 17 hours, 50 minutes.
  • On this plane there was no coach class, only 94 premium economy seats and 67 business thrones.
  • The amenities kit included a wrinkle-reducing spray for clothes.
  • Stewardesses wore Pierre Balmain outfits first designed in 1968 for their international flights.
  • Every passenger was addressed by their last name, especially as you left the plane.
  • There were nearly 1000 entertainment options.
  • All wines came with an explanation about bouquet and such.
  • Wellness is in partnership with Golden Door, a San Marcos, California spa resort.
  • Food maximizes anti-inflammatory properties and are rich in free radicals and anti-oxidants.
  • Everything is designed to reduce jet lag.
  • The bathrooms are cleaned after EVERY passenger use.
  • Cost?
    • Only $2700 for the roundtrip in premium economy and only $6600 in business class.  
    • But these prices can almost double on many dates of the year.
Here is a longer flight, but with a stop in Frankfurt, Singapore-New York in 22 hours.  Watch this bit of luxury in a first class suite on Singapore Airline. 
I've been keeping you up to date on Mega Millions.  Another lottery drawing will be held tonight at 11PM EDT.  Now up to $1.55 billion, largest ever for this pot.  The odds of winning are around one in 300 million.  According to this source:

...the odds of winning the lottery to getting into a fatal car accident on the way to a store. "Imagine you have to drive half a mile to buy your lottery ticket, so you have a 1 mile round-trip. It’s about 4 times as likely that you die in a car accident on the trip to buy your ticket than you are to win.”

If you buy one $2 + $1 ticket, that's entertainment.  If you purchase many more, you have a gambling problem.  Want to watch the drawing?  Click on this.

Today is National Spam Musubi Day.  

  • Sure national, but only celebrated in Hawaii.  
  • Can you believe L&L is the official home?  You also get a free musubi there today
On Aug. 8 (that’s today!) you can get a free SPAM musubi from L&L Hawaiian Barbecue to celebrate National SPAM Musubi Day. And no, you don’t have to do anything crazy to get your free local delicacy of rice and SPAM. All you have to do is grab your phone, download the L&L HawaiÊ»i app, download the complimentary SPAM musubi coupon and hit up the closest L&L to claim your free snack. And with dozens of locations throughout HawaiÊ»i, you can easily find a participating store near you.

  • What is a musubi?  According to Wikipedia:  A local dish in Hawaii is spam musubi, where cooked Spam is placed atop rice and wrapped in a band of nori, a form of nigiri sushi.[27] Varieties of Spam are found in Hawaii and Saipan that are unavailable in other markets, including Honey Spam, Spam with Bacon, and Hot and Spicy Spam.[28]
  • Hawaii has the highest per capita consumption in the world.
  • Did you know Spam is produced only in Austin, Minnesota and Dubuque, Iowa?

Here is Day 4 of my African Blood Lily.

Hurricane Dora remains at a dangerous Category 4, and is just about now directly south of where I'm creating this blog, but maybe 500 miles away.
Can you imagine the horror if the eye were over me?   Dora seems persistent, and appears to now be headed in the general direction of south Japan.  Usually these ocean storms that approach Hawaii from the south, zoom north after passing Kauai and move in the direction of Alaska/Canada.

The other threatening ocean storm is weakening tropical storm Khanun, which is down to 60 MPH and projected to make landfall over South Korea, pretty much tracking right over where those boy scouts were jamboreeing, and moving on between Incheon and Seoul. 
Tropical Storm Lan formed east of Japan, should attain Category 3 strength, and is projected to make landfall over the country as a typhoon of possible Category 2 within a week.  Khanun to the left and Lan on the right.

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