a quickie

We're here! We're at the Singapore airport, with 5 hours to kill before our flight to Hanoi. Might take a swim, might get a massage, might see the gardens, don't know yet. The flight was weird, long, dark, all windows closed all the time but I have loads of pictures I'll post when we get to Hanoi.

Just letting you know we've made it this far....

And we're off!

T-minus no more days! It's finally time to roll.... we're both so excited, and speaking just for me (the female member of the couple) I'm about to turn cartwheels. And I don't know how to turn a cartwheel, it could get ugly. Everything is done at work, everything is ready here at home, and in two hours we'll be driving to the airport.

So no posts for a little while, since we fly 19 hours, hang out in the Singapore airport for 5 hours (we plan to go swimming, since there is a pool in the airport), then 2 hours flying to Hanoi. Twenty-six hours until we land in Hanoi.

One final note of humility: This feels kind of grandiose, posting all our little quotidian details as if they're really of interest to anyone else. We know. We really don't think we're All That, but we hope you enjoy the pictures, once we get going in Vietnam. Thanks for all your good wishes and love and care -- next post, Vietnam!

The night before flying, and all through the house...

Packing and unpacking and repacking and mind-changing and general disarray. For all our dedicated readers (r-i-g-h-t...) we thought you'd like to see our bags. Those are piles of small bills arranged on top of the stuff in the suitcase on the left.

For those who are keeping track of things: T minus 1 day!

Preparing to prepare for take-off

This is a little anticipatory blogging. On Thursday night, when we're actually pulling into Newark airport, (a) it'll be dark, and (b) we'll be too excited to (c) take pictures of boring old Newark International Airport. So, just to kick off the trip, we decided to post a picture of our starting point.

Our airline seats are assigned, our suitcases are out, clothes are being arranged in stacks, last-minute purchases are being made, various itineraries are printed out, drugs are collected, and lists are being made. The most critical list for me, given my recent sudden onset Alzheimer's, is the "oh my god don't forget to do THIS!" list. He is much more thorough and organized, having done all the planning for the trip. Me, I've just been the happy recipient of all his work.

T minus 2 days....

Find the Fish Head: Tonight's Food Research

So you can tell where our minds are: Tonight's research is brought to you by a restaurant called Cha Cha La Vong. Doesn't it look wonderful?!

The details are falling into place; I got my backpack, he's organizing all the rest, including paperwork and meds and food and ... well, everything else.

T minus 3 days.

Tonight's Food Research: HOT DOG!

Yum....one night we'll have fish, another night veggies, and on another night, we'll have....

Can you guess?

What does that look like?

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Hot diggity dog.

T minus 4 days.

The Long Haul

Our trip looks something like this:

Singapore Airlines A340-500 ultra long-haul flights present operational challenges.

While Charles Lindbergh's recounting of his battle to stay awake on his epic 33.5-hr. flight from New York to Paris in 1927 is probably of little interest to the passengers on Singapore Airlines' ultra-long-range flights, it still is fundamental to the success of the operations, which since February 2005 have offered travelers the only nonstop service to the Lion City from Newark. Average flight time for Singapore-NY is 18 hr. while the trips home clock in at 19 hr.

But we'll be traveling in comfort, even though the flight is so damned long:

And we'll fly over the North Pole...how cool is that!


After a few hours hanging around the (apparently) luxurious Singapore airport (I know, but that's what "they" say), we fly to Hanoi:

T minus 7 days and counting.....