A Question for "Mature" Divers

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We'll be facing that question once our miles run out. We have enough miles for two more business class trips to Southeast Asia and then all gone and we'll be 70. After a horrible flight back from the Maldives to the US, we vowed never to do coach on trips over 8 hours. Not sure what we'll do when reality sets in after 2023-4. We might try one more in coach after that to see if it's as horrible. We were the two middle seats in a row of four in a row butting up the the bathrooms. Maybe if we had side seats and followed some of the suggestions here, we could survive. I will say that an overnight in Hong Kong was a great aspect to the trip as we got a night's sleep before heading on to either Jakarta, Bali or Cebu on those trips. I would structure it that way again.

Rob
 
We were the two middle seats in a row of four in a row butting up the the bathrooms.
Book your seats in advance. Never take potluck at the airport.
 
Book your seats in advance. Never take potluck at the airport.
Totally agree. For that trip, we joined our LDS group late and the travel agent just put us wherever. We will never make that mistake again.
 
Totally agree. For that trip, we joined our LDS group late and the travel agent just put us wherever. We will never make that mistake again.
Sorry you had to learn that lesson the hard way!
 
In a word yes. Whenever possible I go business class on points but have travelled economy when there was no option. (no points). Trips to Egypt and Indonesia from my location are all very long flights. Wherever possible if I am in economy I will pay for an upgrade. It is getting harder and my partner is no longer interested in flying anywhere. Two things that I have found help. First is to break up the flight and stay overnight somewhere in the middle. Second is to book one or two days at the international destination to recover before going on to the final destination - liveaboard or resort. That extra couple of days to get over jet lag makes the whole trip more enjoyable.
 
I hate layovers. I love travel. When booking flights I look for least amount of stops and try to get premium seating whenever practical. I also get out of my seat fairly frequently. I live on Vancouver Island and my go to dive destination is in the Caribbean so there aren't any short flights available to me.

You might have a look at the Philippines. There are direct flights from Vancouver to Manila and total travel time in many cases is less than to the Caribbean because you avoid the layover in Houston or New York. I have pretty much given up on the Caribbean because the diving (for me) is so much better in South East Asia and getting to the Philippines is actually easier and quicker than many destinations in the Caribbean. Belize, Saba, Roatan, Cayman all come to mind. Indonesia not so much, but the diving there is so much better than the Caribbean that I will endure the long flights.
 
It seems like all of the flights I took last year had a lot of turbulance so getting up and walking around was not as convenient. I just hit 68 and about the only critter that's on my list that I have not yet seen is a clown fish in an anenomie. Considering what it might take so see one, I can live without it. There are some very excellent places to dive within 5-6 hours of Southern California so I'm just glad that I can still go to those places, and that I can still dive.
 
Coach vs business/first is like night and day on the long hauls. Certain airlines even premium economy type seats are enough. I actually enjoy a long flight when I’m comfortable and well fed, very relaxing when I can’t do anything but relax and read or watch movies - things I tend not to do much at home. Fortunately we have tons of miles, if we can’t make miles work, at this point we’ll pay or not do it.
I also find it helps a lot to not rush and sometimes break up the trip. Even to the Caribbean I’d sometimes rather leave on an afternoon flight and overnight someplace like Miami or Charlotte, leaving there on an earlier flight than we could make if we did it in one day. We avoid leaving home at 3am (I don’t typically get to bed), have a nice dinner and good nights sleep someplace, and arrive early enough in the day to settle in while its still light and maybe even get in a dive. All goes double for a long haul.
 
I'm lucky that Bali is just a mere 8/9 hour flight for me, same with Manila / Cebu, but I still prefer the comfort of business class.

An overnight stay on arrival is my norm in Manila as it gives me an opportunity to purchase toiletries as well as a few other bits and pieces that I'll need during the trip that would have taken unnecessary space and weight in my hold baggage.

I plan to retire at the end of this year, so my dive trips are going to be longer in the future, and WiFi to keep in touch with the office no longer a requirement.
 

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