Skiing — Leaving Las Vegas — back to Malaysia

The long trip back to Malaysia

February 2015

Leaving Las Vegas — fun at the airport — my bag has put on weight!

Finally, and with much sadness, I started my journey back to Malaysia. And it was another long day of travel.

I arrived at Las Vegas airport at 6:45 am for my 8:45 am flight.

The flight to Los Angeles was 1 hour and 5 minutes. Los Angeles to Tokyo was 12 hours, and finally Tokyo to Singapore, 7 hours 40 minutes. A total flying time of 20 hours and 45 minutes, total travelling time (airport to airport) a little over 24 hours.

United Airlines online check-in was a breeze (although, at the time, I was still struggling with the concept of having a boarding pass on my phone); but, at the airport, it was confusing. There were further ‘check-in’ machines, so I thought I had to go through things again. I approached a machine, scanned my passport (it took three devices before the scan worked), and it told me I wasn’t booked on any flights. YIKES!

Finally, thanks to an ‘agent’ (who must spend all day sorting out these things), we established that what I needed to do was scan my phone — all sorted. United Airlines should look at its system, as it was not user-friendly.

The next problem was my bag. It had put on significant weight during the trip.

Now, considering that the bag was underweight by at least 3 lb (1.36 kg) when I flew out, and I had thrown away all my unused toiletries, some old ski gear, and I was wearing a jumper that I had originally packed, I was surprised it was over by 3 lb (1.36 kg). OK, there was a new pair of lightweight hiking boots there, but they didn’t weigh as much as the stuff removed. They didn’t weigh 6 lb (2.72 kg). Net result — to get the bag with all my ski gear below 50 lb (ca. 23 kg), I wore a ski coat and a jumper for a flight to the tropics.

The flight from Las Vegas to Los Angeles was uneventful, apart from one thing — the person in the seat had a very wet cough. I didn’t appreciate the significance of the wet cough, but four days later, I was in the hospital with trouble breathing and a raging chest infection. It took 18 months to clear the infection entirely.

Los Angeles to Tokyo — and onto Singapore

The longest stretch of my return journey was delayed. The delay was worrying as the connection in Tokyo for the Singapore flight was tight.

I did make my last flight, but it involved running through Tokyo airport.

So, my first experience of Tokyo was a mad dash. There was also some confusion at security as I didn’t have any paperwork, and they seemed perplexed with ‘documents’ on the phone.

Singapore

I finally got back to Singapore and got some odd looks as I walked through the airport wearing a big thick ski jumper and coat. The taxi driver also seemed amused at what I was wearing.