SEA Trip Day 9 (+ 10): End of Trip

Sunday, January 22 (+ Sunday, January 22): BKK > SIN > SFO > SMF

We enjoyed a final breakfast in the lounge before heading to the airport for our mid-day flight from Bangkok to Singapore. Our check-in process went quickly, so we had enough time to visit the Singapore Airlines lounge for some pre-flight beverages. Once again, we lucked out with an empty aisle seat in our row during the flight. 

Our layover in Singapore was a bit long, so we made full use of the Singapore Airlines Business Class lounge, thanks to our connecting flight in United Polaris Business Class. After some lunch, we took turns walking around the airport and admiring the Chinese New Year decorations.

I made a few more purchases of gifts and souvenirs and also made time to visit the butterfly garden. What a unique attraction to find at an airport! (the butterflies are hanging upside down under some leaves in the photos below -- sort of hard to discern in this small format, though)

Our flight to San Francisco departed after 10pm, and since I still wasn't feeling great, I ended up sleeping for nearly half of the 14.5 hours. Mr. E and I had chatted with the flight attendants about leaving some of my meal for me to have when I was ready. The menu for this particular flight was very limited in options for me, more due to my allium allergy than to my being a pescatarian! Quite disappointing. But not too much of a hardship since I didn't feel like eating a lot anyway. Just too bad that I wasn't in the mood to enjoy the adult beverages either!

We arrived in SFO around 9pm. Yes, that's correct. We left Singapore at 10pm on Sunday and arrived in San Francisco at 9pm on the same day. Time travel!!! We basically had to live the same day twice! So weird...

Since we used the Mobile Passport Control app, we breezed through our arrival procedures and had just enough time to make a stop at the Polaris Lounge before heading to the gate for our 10:20pm flight to Sacramento. And then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. Again with minimal communication from the gate crew about what was happening or why the flight was delayed. Apparently, the issue was yet again related to the lack of cleaning crew. Arrgh! We finally departed about 30 minutes late and made it home to Louis XIV right around midnight. *yawn*

Overall, despite the travel disruptions, it was a great trip and wonderful opportunity to reconnect with friends. Too funny that we had to go halfway around the world to meet up with them and didn't get together more often when they were living in SoCal! We're definitely prioritizing a return to Singapore, but I think we're good with "one and done" for Bangkok.

Next up, some family time in Austin for a combo birthday weekend in early March.