Romping and Nguyening

Signs were plastered along the wait lines and columns at the airport, clearly stating that the weight limit for each carry on item was 7 kg (~15 lb) for Eva Airlines.  Chris and I each had a 50L backpack that weighed about 25 lbs each, along with personal bags of approximately 10 lbs each.

“Are you checking in any bags?” asked the agent.

“We prefer not to,” Chris replied.

She weighed our bags individually and told us that our bags exceeded the minimum weight limit, but immediately said the beautiful words I had the pleasure of hearing for the first time.

“…but you’re flying first class, so that’s okay!”

YAY! (I should mention here that Eva’s first class is known as the “Royal Laurel Class.”)

We promptly received our boarding passes from SF to Taipei and and Taipei to Hanoi. In addition to our boarding passes we received Eva Air lounge passes. The line through security was short, and we quickly made our way to the lounge, where we scarfed down wonton soup, fried rice, chow mein, and some cake. Chris helped himself to some wine, and then off we went to the gate.  Boarding time came and gone, and the next thing we knew we arrived at our seats!

We eagerly settled into our “pods.” Each pod supplied its travelers with slippers, a pillow, a fluffy duvet, personal monitor, amenities box, headphones, bottled water, outlets and USB ports, and plenty of storage space for personal items such as shoes and electronics.  Our pods offered plenty of leg space, because the chairs reclined into full-length mini beds!

The amenities box:

Inside the amenities box were socks, an eye mask, a comb/brush, lip balm, lotion, a toothbrush, and toothpaste:

Not long after we stowed away our bags, we were given orange juice and menus:

Dinner was a 3-course meal with wine or champagne (Dom Perignon!) that was served immediately after take off.

The first course was a crab, avocado, and tomato salad.

We both opted for lobster and vegetables for our main course.

I thought the salt and pepper shakers were unique and pretty darn cute:

The final course was a platter of fruit and a delicious lemon mousse cake, a small Godiva chocolate, and some tea.

Before this flight, I had low expectations on their meals since previous reviews prepared me for disappointment. However, Eva Airlines probably upped their quality since then—their dinner was delicious!

After we finished our dinner, it was about 3am PST, way past our bedtime. We turned our seats into beds, put on our sleep masks, and actually had some good sleep.

When we woke up, we were half way through our flight. I was hungry so I ordered a “snack” of stir fried noodles with vegetables, pork, and mushrooms. 45 minutes after that, they served a “wake up drink” of carrot juice and breakfast. I made a mistake by choosing the “Chinese” breakfast of congee and pickled vegetables. Next time I’ll stick to the Western breakfast, which Chris opted for.

My second movie ended, the sun began to rise, and there was 20 minutes left until arrival! We packed our stuff, organized our pods, turned our beds back into airline seats, and waited for the wheels to touch the ground.  We had a great landing after a smooth flight, and I was delightfully surprised to see that we had parked next to Eva Airline’s Hello Kitty plane!!! YAY!

Now I am currently sitting in the Eva Airlines business lounge, waiting for our final flight to Hanoi. I just chowed down on some dim sum, cakes, custards, ice cream, and cheese. I never knew there would be so much food involved with first class!  I’m full. =D