Penang to Portland & Austin: Heading back home

• Introduction
• Penang to Singapore on Silkair
• Singapore to Portland on United Airlines
• Portland and review of Hilton Portland
• Portland to Austin; First Bump ever
• Short review of Embassy Suites Austin Town Lake
• Heading back home - Austin to Penang on United Airlines

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After 2 weeks in the US, it was time to get back home.  Having never flew internationally out of San Francisco, I decided of a AUS-SFO-NRT-SIN-PEN routing. The AUS-SFO was actually the killer flight. The flight was scheduled to depart Austin at 6am meaning I had to wake up around 3.30 in the morning to get to the airport in time. I made a quick stop at the Continental President's Club before the flight and wasn't too interested in the bagels and muffin they were serving for breakfast. I was not really awake at this time and wasn't too bothered about the details or to take pictures. All I remembered was that the flight was operated by a CRJ-700, I had the seat next to me empty and there was a drink service. 

Arriving in San Francisco, at 7.30am I was dead hungry (wish I had those bagels back in Austin!) and made a quick stop for a teriyaki chicken bowl right by the gate that I got into. After breakfast, I headed to the SFO Red Carpet Club where I would spend the next couple of hours drinking beer and catching up on work/email.

View from the RCC Bar

An hour and a half before departure, I left the RCC for some lunch knowing the food on the flight was going to be horrible.

I made a quick stop by the Singapore Airlines Krisflyer lounge before departure. They only open at 11 am so I could only spend a couple of minutes in the lounge. There is a shower in the lounge and the food/drink selection seems better than the RCC. Would rather spend it here than the RCC.

By the time I got in the flight, the combination of the alcohol and the Novomin that I took did wonders! I slept like a baby until we were ~2 hours to Tokyo. I had a ~4 hour layover in Tokyo where I headed out to landside to meet up with my brother who works in Tokyo. The air-conditioning in Narita seems to be turned off from what I assume was energy savings due to the earthquake and the airport got rather warm. Had a ramen lunch at one of the restaurants in the airport before heading out to the viewing deck.

Ramen for lunch

At the Viewing Deck

I headed back airside about 1.5 hour before the departure to Singapore. Took a quick shower in the RCC where by now there was no line. By the time I reach the departure gate, the flight was already boarding. I slept most of the Tokyo to Singapore flight skipping the meals provided.

Arrived in Singapore around midnight and headed to the Green Market Lounge that's accessible with Priority Pass. This lounge just opened recently and it was my first time in it. It supposedly offers a "new lounge concept" offering healthy cook to order options. There was also a salad bar and I ordered a beef fried rice on top of that. There's also free wifi in the lounge. Didn't ask or see if they had alcohol on offer.

I spent the rest of the night in the transit hotel and headed back to Penang on the first Singapore to Penang Silk Air flight. Again, another short hop and nothing much to say about it.