After much delay, I've decided to leave this city tomorrow. Actually, I am supposed to leave today, but I change my departure date to tomorrow. I need more time here I suppose hehehehehe...
So, tomorrow I'll ride on a 'business class' 'vvip' class. That what the bus company advertise they service as. Yup, I need to imagine it's a greyhound as it would take 14 hours to reach my destination, except my greyhound is business class... maybe a giant stretch limo. OMG, I need to lower my expectation. I hope I am satisfied with their service. Crossing fingers
The bus company market their service as business class because of the seating layout. 2+1 instead of 2+2. Imagine a regional airliner's business class or premium class. Smaller airplanes like the Embraer of Bombardier usually have 2+1 layout for their business class. Oooh, speaking of business class, I've tried our own regional airlines business class on ATR-72. It's cool to have the cabin all to myself, 2 meals for an hour 15 minutes flight. Access to it's sister airlines Lounge. Do I need to say more on the lounge? Yup free flow food and drinks, having approximately 500 square feet to myself, facing the tarmac and runway. Showers and dressing room. Heaven. On board choices of beverages are better than coach. Actually, I have to admit, I'm a business class virgin.
There are also cabin crew on board. What? Cabin crew. Can I apply as one. It's like flying on international flight as it would take 14 hours. And here I am imagining a lady saying things like Madame monsieur bienvenue a bord a la Air France. Or, your emergency exit might be behind you, or something like coffee or tea sir? There might be safety demo a la Cebu Pacific eh? Great... (nope, it's not like that kind of great... at least, I can chat with the crew if I get bored. That's what I always do on a quiet regional flight. Would there be any powder room on board? That's for me too see tomorrow.
Besides that, the seats are cradle seat, just like most regional business class. A personal screen, I hope they have movies to entertain me for 14 hours trip. But they do have video games on board. I wish there is company providing lie flat seat since it's 14 hour trip. It's like flying to London from Singapore. SIN-LHR. But, what we really need is actually, intercity high speed train service, by high speed I meant only 5 hours for a trip covering 800 km. (around 160km/h... I think, that is still slow in other parts of the world)
Ok, I need to stop now. I'll write more on this trip once I reach my destination.
(Hey, I wish I'm Roni Hawi. He gets to sample most airlines business class... If only...
http://www.flyroni.aero/)
Love and peace
Me.
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The verdict. Well as it is only 10% extra charge. Not that bad. An upgrade from 90.00 to 100.00.
The pro: Power outlet and Personal TV screen. And the variety of TV channels are acceptable. I watched the documentary channel and enjoyed watching Drug Inc. and The Toughest Place to be a Binman. The documentary channel is enough for me. Besides the 2 aforementioned programme, there's also show on ghost/paranormal activities caught by amateur, sorry I forget the name, a documentary on blood diamond and Megastructure; the episode on Marina Bay Sands. The documentary on ghost; is it a Halloween's special or just a coincidence. It's coincidence. The content are mainly downloaded from Youtube I reckon. And that's the playlist.
Besides Documentary, one can watch the comedy channel. All programme in the comedy channel's are acted by Rowan Atkinson, mostly M. Bean with some comedic sketch by him. Who can say no to this.... until you watch them repeatedly... then it's not funny.
Music channel; one can watch Britney's concert, Maroon 5, Usher, some Indonesian concert and EVANESCENCE Live in Bogota. Yeah, that one. The one she wore flags.
Movie channels are not bad. I watched some scene form Planets of the apes. Only some as I am more interested in watching the documentary channel.
Anyway, if none of the TV programme excites you, you can always watch something from your laptop. There's socket for you to plug in your laptop.
The con: As the bus is taller than other regular express bus, the speed limit is lower. Blame it on the shoddy workmanship of our 'highway'... that's a sarcasm. However, they compensate by reducing the stop. This particular trip, the bus just pass by a town. Other bus services do stop here as it is located midway. But not this morning.
However, there are some unscheduled stop later that trip. Picking up and dropping off some passengers. One particular passenger disgust me. He spat on the but. SERIOUSLY? That remind me of my fathers story on his trip to China. I would like to tell more but maybe next time.
On other note, one have to lower their expectation. No cabin crew was seen, no food services and no games. I mention these because it was in the advertisement. But I don't really care. By doing so, they can widen their profit margin. 10.00 bucks just for games, crew and food. They go bankrupt in no time. The PTV and electrical outlet is good enough.
I would recommend the front seat. Is is spacey, more legroom. No intrusion as it is quite isolated. But not for the faint-hearted. One unique feature of the bus is one can access their luggage at the lower deck. It's kinda like boarding an Ilyushin Il-86. Just read this link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-86#The_.22Luggage_at_hand.22_system
One enter through a door from lower deck, place their luggage in the cargo hold, aka lower deck, then walk up, find your seat and sit, relax, enjoy the ride.
That's all for now. I'm tired. Sleepless night as I am to engrossed watching the documentaries.
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