Singapore!

This is a first for me…a visit to Singapore!

The drive to the airport was the roughest part of the journey.  It took 4 1/2 hours to get from my house to LAX yesterday (it was right through the middle of the morning commute and it rained all the way, which always degrades traffic conditions here in mostly-sunny So Cal).   Next up was a 12-hour flight to Tokyo, then a 2 1/2 hour layover, and then another 7 hour flight to Singapore.   Yikes.   The good news is I arrived in Singapore at 2:00 a.m. local time, the airport was mostly empty, and getting through Customs was a snap.

The first leg (that 12-hour run to Tokyo) wasn’t a bad flight.  It was on the new Boeing 787, and even though I was traveling steerage, it was comfortable.  The 787 interior is huge, and the lighting was cool.   Unlike any other flight I’ve ever been on, the little screen on the seat in front of me wasn’t so little.  I watched four movies (they were all good) and ate two meals, and those 12 hours flew by quickly (if you’ll pardon the pun).   The Martian (with Matt Damon) was great.  Spot Light (about the Cardinal Law scandals in Boston) was similarly excellent.  Spectre (the latest James Bond movie) wasn’t bad, although realistically that franchise went past its “sell by” date about 30 years ago.   Then it was an old favorite, Saving Private Ryan, which is an absolutely fantastic movie that I’ve probably seen 10 times (and I’ll probably watch it again on the way home).

It’s mid-morning Saturday here (Friday night for you guys), and it’s raining in Singapore.  Looks like the precipitation followed me to the other side of the world.

I had a nice note and a photo from my good buddy Duane when I checked my email at the hotel early this morning…

Duane, thanks for taking the time to write.  We’ll get together for a ride real soon.

The Baja trip is shaping up nicely.  We had another guy drop out and another one sign up, and the bottom line to that is we still have room for two more RX3 riders.   This kind switching-and-dropping-and-adding is pretty much par for the course in the weeks before these kinds of rides.  It’s happened on every Baja run I’ve ever done.   On the CSC rides, though, I’ve been surprised at how many people who say they are going with us actually do.  On earlier rides before we started doing the CSC adventure tours, we’d be lucky if one or two guys showed up the morning we left (regardless of how many people said they were going).   RX3 riders are a much more committed group.  It’s cool.

That’s it for now.  I want to get out and explore Singapore, and I have two days to do it before the working part of this secret mission commences.  Watch for photos…