Los Angeles International Airport

Bye LA! Today, Andy, Richard, and I are all off to the land of the rising sun. Funny enough, Andy and Richard are on the same JAL flight to NRT while I am flying ANA to CTS connecting through NRT.

My dumb ass should have gone to the orthodontics yesterday for a wire poke, but instead I went this morning and cut into some precious lounge time. At LAX, we checked in at TBIT and walked over to T4 to go through security. We did not have precheck since we had international tickets, but the security line at T4 was painless! After going through security, we took the tunnel back to TBIT and went to our respective lounges. Andy to Qantas First Class, I to Star Alliance First Class, and Richard later ended up at the oneworld Business Class lounge.

First, the Star Alliance First Class lounge is nothing entirely special. The Business Class lounge is more memorable but the great thing about the First Class lounge is the sit-down dining service. They have a number of items available for devouring, so I had the Salmon Lox Flatbread and their 20th Anniversary Singapore Chicken Satay. The Salmon Lox Flatbread was delicious, but since I had just gotten my wires tightened, I could not eat the bread. Chicken Satay was okay, nothing too special. Then, I loaded up on Beau Joie champagne and lots of it. The rose was delish!

I went to shower in the Business Class lounge and proceeded to check out their food offerings, nothing too special. I checked out their outdoor terrace, which I think is the best part of the lounge. The First Class lounge only had 3 people, which were all 3 of the first class passengers on the ANA flight to Japan. They called for first class boarding while I was still eating, so I decided to skip the escort and enjoy a few more minutes at the lounge. When I finally went to board, the VIP first class experience started and boy did ANA deliver.

Upon seating, I received the choice of a glass of champagne or orange juice--naturally, I went for the champagne. All the flight attendants greeted me and introduced themselves. I had Usui-san as my primary flight attendant and she was an absolute sweetheart. They came by with free Shiseido products and I grabbed as many as I could. The Samsonite amenity kit was also waiting for me at my seat. It's a pretty purple color though the case is a bit too bulky for my liking.

We hit the road and I was given the choice between the American or Japanese style dining menu. I went for the Japanese washoku since I am flying a Japanese airline and going to Japan. The dishes were all delicious! Like holy fuck, what great airline food. None of that shitty economy food you dread. I had an umeshu to start my meal and ended with the famed Hibiki 21 year. Usui-san poured me a GENEROUS amount of the Hibiki when I only asked for a taste. It was delicious, but I felt like it was pretty overpowering by itself. Wouldn't have been able to get it elsewhere, so it was great to have been able to have a taste.

I kept myself hydrated by selecting from a number of their drink offerings. I then ate more getting some raw scallop salad dish and a salmon chazuke. I even slept for 4 hours straight and watched 3 moives (Hidden Figures, Moonlight, and Moana). Before I knew it, I was touching down in Narita. Is it weird that I wished the flight was longer?

But really, the MVP of the flight was...SHISEDO beauty products in the bathroom! They had a lotion toner and milk emulsion and wow, I woke up from my sleep with super soft skin...and this is with shitty air circulation on a plane. I wish I had bought some empty Daiso/Muji travel-sized bottles to steal some. Man.

All in all, it was a great experience and I thank Usui-san and the ANA crew for a fabulous experience! If only I could fly first class all the time..Read more