The Sakura Lounge (1100th Post)

One year and 100 posts ago, I celebrated the 1000th post on my blog by writing about my Texas-Thai wedding. Nearly one year later, I'm back in Texas, not for a wedding this time, but sadly for a funeral.

Still, it's nice to be back. I wasn't expecting to have the chance to visit the States this year.

I just booked my tickets last week for my extremely last-minute trip. I found the cheapest flight I could, but imagine my delight when I checked in at Suvarnabhumi Airport to be told that I had been upgraded to economy premium class!

I flew out on JAL with a brief layover in Tokyo. The first flight was six hours, and I enjoyed a cup of Japanese sake before trying to sleep.

I would have liked to have gone into Tokyo to visit the city and stretch my legs, but Japan's borders are still more or less closed due to COVID. I ended up with a pretty short 4-hour layover at Haneda Airport. Lucky for me, my premium ticket came with access to Japan Airline's Sakura Lounge! It was my first time to visit an airport lounge, and without a doubt the nicest layover experience I've ever had.

The first thing I did was eat some breakfast. There were tons of options, but I decided that since I was in Japan, I should order the Japanese breakfast set. The meal came with a bowl of rice, some pickled cabbage, a piece of grilled fish, a type of sweet Japanese omelet called Tamagoyaki (often served with sushi), a bowl of hot miso soup, and one super sour ume plumb.

The lounge also offered free all-inclusive coffee, tea, and soft drinks, as well as free all-inclusive beer (self-served via a super-Japanese automatic draught beer dispensing machine), wine, and liquor. It was too early to enjoy a glass of premium Japanese whisky, but I did decide to have a breakfast beer. My internal clock was all messed up my redeye flight anyway, and it didn't feel like the morning.

I spent my layover watching the planes taking off and landing from the comfort of the lounge.

Since Japan is still mostly shut to outsiders due to the pandemic, very few people are flying in and out of Tokyo - most just on layovers. The airport was still mostly empty, and nearly half of the shops were shut up and dark. In Japan, like in Thailand, masks are still mandatory, and I was very happy that the airline staff on both of my flights strictly enforced the rule.

Japan is currently being battered by Typhoon Nanmadol. The storms are mostly hitting the southern islands, but Tokyo was experiencing some heavy rain as well. The flight ended up being slightly delayed due to the rain and air traffic congestion (only 30 minutes or so). However, the Japanese are nothing if not obsessively service-minded, and upon landing, I found that I had received an apology email from JAL.

"Mr. DESROSIERS,

Thank you for choosing Japan Airlines.

We would like to sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by your flight being delayed."

The next flight was much longer than the first - about 14 hours. Luckily, I was in the bulkhead exit seat and had infinite legroom to stretch out. I was also seated in a premium economy seat with a footrest and the ability to recline much farther than a regular seat. It made the flight much more manageable.