My second trip for the new job, and my first where I am working (as opposed to undergoing I boarding) is to Taipei. I will facilitate three days of workshops for the local team. 

Here is a quick photographic tour of my flight over. 

 
My flight was scheduled for 7:15am, meaning an early departure from home. I made it to a very crowded Thai Airways Royal Orchid lounge where I enjoyed a bit of breakfast. 

From my seat I watched the first sliver of orange on the horizon erupt into a rising fireball as a Cathay Pacific Airbus A330 pushed back for the early Hong Kong departure. 

  
By the time I walked to the gate, the concourse was bathed in a warm light. As a morning person, I find this a peaceful and pleasurable time of the day. Even when traveling. 

  
Despite being the hometown airline, THAI still uses remote gates for many departures. This means boarding a bus and driving a few kilometers across the airport. I enjoy it as it afforded me a chance to snap this photo of an Airbus A380 in the distance. 

  
And this Boeing 747-400 parked at the stand next to ours. 

  
To protect passengers from the sunlight – or perhaps to stymie our photo-taking – the boarding stairs are covered in a plexiglass canopy. 

  
Our climb out of the airport was smooth. I had an aisle seat so needed to be creative to get my picture. 

  
The choices of inflight meals were pancakes or fried rice with chicken. I had the rice. It was fine but nothing memorable. 

  
The rest of the 3-hour flight was smooth. I watched “Good Will Hunting” again. Enjoyable movie and glad they show some classics. The seat buckets are a bit uncomfortable. By the end of the flight my tail bone was already aching.  

All in all, the flight was uneventful, the hard product (seat, food, entertainment) was acceptable but not extraordinary, the soft product (customer service) was friendly but not outstanding.