nikkor 20 mm 2.8 f ⁄ 2.8	cathay pacific the cabin
having handed his lounge invitation to the reception attendent donut dull dull heads down the « cat walk » to the computer area he wants to check on the progress of the jal flight from vancouver : the canadian kids are in the air to join him in tokyo

before hopping around the lounges with me to watch the late winter sunrise and early morning flight traffic donut attempts to check in by scanning his donut [ cx really ought to recognize him by now !! hehe ]

nikon d700 + nikkor 20 mm 2.8 d f ⁄ 2.8

laurie at griandole park hyatt tokyo

amex gave us a free night at a park hyatt and a two night for the price of one offer at a mandarin oriental both were set to expire and with tokyo being the only nearby city with both we decide to meet there for some holiday shopping the properties are of course amazing — we were just coming out of the subway with our suitcases and heading towards the mandarin when somehow the receptionist greeted us by name !!

after checking out of the m.o. we hop onto the subway to shinjuku and check into the park [ that sounds half glamourous no ? hehe ] they do not manage to greet us by name at the door however

nikon d700 + nikkor 20 mm 2.8 d f ⁄ 2.8	cathay pacific lounge at narita international airport
the third cathay pacific lounge of this trip at narita airport terminal two can you make out all six kids in this photo ? after this group photo is taken the kids split off into pairs fly and snail head to the far end to spot planes whereas butterfly and ladybug peruse a copy of the wall street journal last but not least donut shows little devil how to check flight statuses on the computers

well the above was the plan anyway before laurie rushed me to head back out for some more shopping you can see in the above i made a mistake with one of the pairings [ sorry fly and snail ! ]

nikon d700 + nikkor 20 mm 2.8 d f ⁄ 8

cathay pacific lounge at vancouver international airport

we are surprised with an upgrade at check in on the return and to a near empty first class cabin !! if only they could let me in on this earlier — we would have brought a much larger contingent of kids and camera lenses [ sigh hehe ] an incidental note from the bump is that donut dull dull is not only the only kid to have flown all three travel classes but also now a kid who has flown all three travel classes in as many weeks

eggplant of course sleeps well no matter where we are ; except for maybe a few seconds of confusion when he toppled to the floor during take-off [ i had forgotten to secure him to the buddy seat ; sorry ! ]

nikon d700 + nikkor 20 mm 2.8 d f ⁄ 2.8	cathay pacific boeing 747-400 cabin
an hour and a half after taking off the flight attendants have closed the other window shades but they let donut and drumstick dull keep theirs open when they see how intrigued both are by the view outside from when the air bridges were pulled back at the gate to now cruising above the clouds at 38,000 ft the two stay right by the window wanting to take in every moment

departing vancouver early afternoon b-hug chases the setting sun as it heads west to hong kong meaning much of the flight is in daylight which is great for clicking away on my camera [ and we finally have the caviar and salmon dish lit naturally ]

nikon d700 + nikkor 20 mm 2.8 d f ⁄ 2.8

departure gate 1 at hong kong international airport

three days after returning from my job interviews in tokyo donut is back with me at the departure gates we are vancouver bound for a week off after four months of heavy duty office work ; tagging along this time is drumstick dull dull [ this was his first flight in thirty months after bouts with over eating and hospitalizations — more on this perhaps later ] as well as the ever asleep yet eye catching eggplant mug mug

shortly after taking off on b-hue donut dull dull and drumstick dull dull turn their attention to the menu eggplant mug mug us of course sleeping perfectly soundly whether sitting up or lying down

nikon d2x + nikkor 35 mm 2.0 d f ⁄ 2	cypress mountain road trip with the canada small kids in vancouver
the cx 838 arrival time of one pm gives me three hours for a relaxing drive up north before heading back to the mainland at five to pick laurie up from his office for a nice dinner at trafalgars the day then closes with a glass [ or three ] of wine and a sleeping pill [ or three ] for a corrected body clock the next morning and office stress literally thousands of miles away

tell you something — while setting up the above shots i accidentally dropped and stepped on snail he had to be bandaged up that night and he did not speak to me for a week afterwards [ kiss snail ga ]

nikon d700 + nikkor 16 mm fisheye f ⁄ 2.8

cathay pacific boeing 747-400 at vancouver international airport

even though in the photo you can only see his back as donut dull dull made his way to door 1 of b-hue you can be sure his face was to the brim with excitement [ and maybe a little sunburnt — the air bridge is a long walk for a small kid ] after four days hanging out with the canadian kids he is now heading home on his first day time long haul flight that means thirteen hours awake to explore the aircraft to his heart's content !!

who can resist the eye-fetching queen of the sky ? donut asks me if he can leave the lounge early to head to the gate and look at the aircraft taking us home this afternoon before boarding

nikon d700 + nikkor 16 mm fisheye f ⁄ 2.8

cathay pacific boeing 747-400 upper deck cabin

donut dull dull and my mum sit next to each other in 81 / 82k ; these are hand-picked by donut the upper deck is a no-brainer : beds are 6 inches longer than on the main deck and there are no bassinet positions up here rear toilets and a maligned window on the front left are important reasons for picking this first seat on the right but the key one for donut though — the seat is flight deck and pilot rest seat adjacent !

as he strolls around donut caught the eyes of one of the flight crew who extends to him a cockpit tour [ it made his day — and he thought the buttons at his seat were tough to keep track of ! ]

nikon d700 + nikkor 24-85 mm d f ⁄ 2.8

cathay pacific boeing 747-400 cabin

this bed time photo of the b-hox cabin was taken by laurie and is easily my favorite from the flight whereas my cabin photos are becoming quite formulaic he has a knack of taking awesome ones without really trying it was disappointing though that we did not manage good shots of the first meal as it was served after sun down [ the balik salmon and caviar really deserves to be naturally lit ] but i suppose we can just use this as an excuse to fly again

the canadian kids look all energetic and excited here partly because it is only the middle of the afternoon when cx 838 departs but also because after a year and a half the jumbo is back on this route !!

nikon d700 + nikkor 24-85 mm d f ⁄ 2.8

cathay pacific boeing 747-400 cabin and in flight meal

a hearty breakfast to celebrate the return ad interim of the jumbo service to vancouver it was indeed quite nice to be sitting in the nose on a long haul flight again — if only for a couple of seasons before their anticipated deployment back again to europe ; fly dull dull is also loading up on energy as he will be assisting in the landing [ with his antenna resembling the spirit of ecstacy we have dubbed him our resident rolls royce engine ]

as the owner of his own chain of clothing stores [ you have you heard of coccinelle have you not ? ] ladybug mug mug wakes up stylishly to a cup of hong kong milk tea as the sun rises behind the shades the three other kids also help themselves to some healthful food before the afternoon arrival

nikon d700 + nikkor 24-85 mm d f ⁄ 4

cathay pacific boeing 777-200 cabin

the youngest of the six kids coming with us to sapporo and tokyo gather amongst themselves to catch up two months have passed since they last got together though donut see snail and little devil every now and then on the webcam they look very happy together travelling together ; perhaps they are sharing the latest gossips from the playground [ donut and little devil have just started kindergarten ! ]

some in flight photos from hong kong to sapporo ; this is the first time donut is in a 777-200 and he cannot wait to walk all around the aircraft bringing his best friend little devil along with him [ little devil is not that into planes himself but he always listens to what donut has to say ]

nikon d700 + nikkor 24-85 mm d f ⁄ 2.8

laurie on jr hokkaido train to new chitose airport

posing for a photo as we headed back to the airport for an early domestic flight to tokyo after a day and a half of fresh seafood and open air daiyokujou in sapporo we turn to tokyo for some serious shopping laurie originally suggested this routing so we could fly on japan airlines [ my first time — flight attendants bow before taking their seats !! ] but this open jaw itinerary actually works quite well as we enjoy different activities in each city

some photos from rengatei ginza where we had the most phenomenal tonkatsu and curry [ hong kong big dull dull sang numerous prayers for his friends who may now be in our stomachs ]

nikon d700 + nikkor 20 mm 2.8 d f ⁄ 2.8

cathay pacific boeing 777-300 er cabin

donut dull dull running over the supper choices tonight to vancouver with fishball mug mug a fledgeling himself not long ago donut takes good care of his elder brother who is travelling on his first long haul flight incidentally credit goes to our in flight service manager who suggested this setup when he saw me troubled by the dismal lighting the winter departure of 1 am for an evening arrival kept the cabin in total darkness almost the entire time

some photos in and out of b-kpc who is taking me and the two small kids to vancouver this evening the two on the right show off the cabin mood lightings at seat 11a during boarding and take off

nikon d700 + nikkor 35 mm 2.0 d f ⁄ 8	boeing 747-8 freighters at paine field airport
my wide angle primes makes me look somewhat inadequate at the observation deck still with some heavy cropping this photo of the boeing 501 heavy experimental manages to turn out okay [ fly dull dull shuddered when he heard the poor ge engines going through the numerous taxi tests ] it is also good to know my lenses work at f numbers other than wide open

on sunday the new plane needs some rest [ his maiden flight scheduled for the next day ] and so do we we stop by the cheesecake factory for a leisurely sunday brunch before hitting the department stores

nikon d700 + nikkor 20 mm 2.8 d f ⁄ 2.8

cathay pacific boeing 777-300 er mini cabin

there was a twenty second window to capture a serene mini compartment on the oneworld liveryed b-kpl the flight attendants had just switched on the cabin lights [ for the second meal service about two hours from hong kong ] ten seconds before this shot was taken the cabin was pitch black as everyone slept ; and ten seconds after people were already up stretching and lining up for the bathrooms and basically ruining my photos

some photos of donut taking fishball to the arrival lounge after our flight ; incidentally the showers and very large towels at the arrival are great for cleaning dirty suitcases before rolling them on home

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