At the ACM
Hmm. I’ve spent about 31 hours in flight and in transit, to get to Orlando, Florida. Good news is that I’ve arrived, all safe and dandy.
Singapore Airlines is now flying the A340-500 to Los Angeles or San Francisco, from Singapore. Its truly got to be the best plane for long haul flights. Notice that you get direct flights to America? No more transiting in Narita. I was given a seat in Executive Economy Class (I wonder why? Maybe its because of my collected miles/status, as it used to and still does happen on United, a Star Alliance partner). What’s cool there? Power. Yes, nice, in-flight power, suitable for devices that support 110V (read: all modern laptop PSUs).
Food was great (new menus), and I tried the much recommended Singapore Sling, and realised that it tastes pretty darn good. Highly recommended if you’re on Singapore Airlines anytime soon. Oh immigration – long queues at LAX as usual, however, they’re still taking 2 fingerprints, as opposed to 10. Odd?
United was acceptable as usual. No personal video screens, no power, but at least its those nicer/larger Economy Plus seats. I sincerely think that the best Star Alliance airline has got to be Singapore Air (trust me, Lufthansa doesn’t come close).
Kaj, and the Village MySQL banner
Arrived in Orlando, the pick-up was ready, and check-in was quick. As I was about to head to my room, I bumped into Kaj, and decided that I’d join him for registration and breakfast. Got to meet quite a few new hires, though we mostly ended up talking to Marten and Monty.
MySQL: The Future is Wide Open
After breakfast, I bumped into Giuseppe and Trudy. Was good to see Giuseppe and catch up (I’m sure we’ll be doing a lot more of that this month). At this point I was getting tired, and my legs were aching. Found my room (very nice, pictures on Flickr of course), tried to nap, failed, and visited the Mandara Spa. Had a quick massage, a good shower, and now I think I’m ready to rest. No, I think I’ll go get some sun in first. This jet lag thing-magic can be beaten!
