Toronto to Taipei - Eva Air Business Class | Travel Blog

Toronto to Taipei - Eva Air Business Class

 Toronto to Singapore via Taipei Nov 23, 2018

 Getting a boarding pass at the business counter at Toronto Pearson Airport Terminal 1 was a breeze. Eva Air business calls their business class Royal Business Class. There is no 1st class on this Boeing 777-300ER.

Plaza Premium Lounge

 The lounge Eva Air uses at Toronto Airport is the Plaza Premium lounge. The lounge is rather small and made up of only 2 sections. One is for dining and the other is for resting. Food selection was lacking.

 However, there is a shower facility, but you need to book first before using the shower. The overall lounge experience was not bad. Food tasted good and the lounge’s cleanliness was good as well, including the washroom.

 At the Gate

 I have noticed a lot of customers, mainly senior citizens, at the boarding area in both business- and economy-class lines. What struck me is that I have never seen this many senior citizens boarding on one plane before.

 My guess is that probably most of these senior citizens are leaving Canada to spend the winter in warm places in Asia and they will be back once winter is over. Toronto was very cold, reaching -20 on this date.

 Inside the Business Class Cabin

 Eva Air business class configuration is 1-2-1 reverse-herringbone layout. All lie-flat seats offer aisle access, so regardless of where you sit, you will have full aisle access. I chose a window on the left, so there was no one sitting next to me.

 The Amenity Kit

 The amenity kit provided 3Lab toiletries and there are 2 pouches. One is a smaller one made of leather-like material and the other one is made of fabric. Both of them look like high-quality products.

 Also, the sleeping set came with pajamas and a sleeping shirt.

 Food & Drinks

Food and drink selections were great. My main course was Lotus root and Shimeji Mushroom with Dan Zai Noodle. My dessert was fruit mango Charlotte Cake.

 After waking up from an hour sleep on the flat bed, my pre-breakfast was a beef burger with fries and coffee. My full breakfast was an Asparagus and Brie Omelette with Turkey sausage and Roesti potatoes.

 I don’t drink alcohol while flying, but for those who are interested, I picked some of the drinks available below.

 Champagne/Wine

 Veuve Clicquot La Geande Dame 2006 - Champagne

Comte de la Perriere-Silex 2017 AOC Sancerre - French White Wine

Chuteau Larmende 2011, Grand Cru Classe, Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux - French Red Wine

 Cocktails

 Bloody Mary, Screwdriver, Gin Martini, Aurora, Passion Island

 Spirits

 Kavakan Single Malt Whisky

Glenfiddich Reserve Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Royal Salute 21 Years Scotch Whiskey

 Liqueurs

 Campari

Khula

Baileys Urish Cream

 This is not the full list. I just picked the top 3-5 from the list.

 The Washroom

 The washrooms were extremely clean and well-maintained. I had a feeling that after each use, the attendants cleaned and made sure everything is in order. Each time I visited, I found it spotless and things in place.

 The washrooms had one time toothbrush & toothpaste, mouthwash, and other female necessities. There was lotion, hand wash, cologne, and face spray in containers as well and I found them always full and no after-use dripping signs.

 Entertainment System

 There were fairly recent movies and TV shows, I watched Mission Impossible Fallout. Eva Air does not provide free WiFi in business class like Turkish Airlines.

 Final Thoughts

 My flight had a night mode feature on the ceiling, creating stars in the night sky. It looked really good when all lights were out and I liked it a lot.

 My overall business class flight experience with Eva Air was pleasant and satisfactory. This is my first time flying EVA AIR and I am looking forward to my next flight from Taipei to Singapore.

Why You Are So Tired?

Are You Getting Enough Sleep?

Most of us will, at least once a day if not more often, feel a little bit short of energy and experience a desire to stop whatever we are doing and go chill out for a spell. Excessive tiredness is a surprisingly common complaint, and it affects people in all manner of jobs from the highly physical to the mainly sedentary. How often will you hear someone say “I really don’t know why I am so tired – I’ve not even done much today!”?

The reason that people find themselves wondering just that is that they have, as often as not, got too little sleep. In today’s society, the work-life balance tends to be weighted firmly in favour of work – and that leaves many of us fighting to get through the week. “That Friday Feeling” may be about partying for some people, but for many of us it is more about feeling blessed relief that we can crawl under the duvet for a spell.

For many of us, work commitments mean getting out of bed at any time from 5am onwards. To get the eight hours of sleep that the average human being needs, this would necessitate going to bed at some time prior to 9pm. If you have got back from the office at any point after five or six o’clock, that leaves you with a very short window in which to get something to eat, chat with family or friends, and get ready for bed. Although that sounds monstrous, it doesn’t always happen that way, as we often rebel against our body clock and stay up a few more hours to watch TV or whatever else we like to do.

The problem with doing that is that we are simply saving up a “sleep debt” for ourselves, which our body will be looking to cash in at some point. For those of us who have weekends off, this means that as often as not we will spend the mornings of Saturday and Sunday catching up on missed sleep. So much for any plans we had to get things done around the home.

The solution to the sleep debt problem is not immediately evident. Many of us just accept that we will have to deal with the effects of sleep deprivation during the week, get ourselves back on a relatively even keel at the weekend, and then begin the process anew on Monday. If we could all find jobs that allowed us eight hours of work, eight hours of free time (minus travel and preparation times) and eight hours of sleep, we’d probably all be a lot happier. As this is not an achievable situation, we have to look at the options we do have.

It is vital, however, that we all realize that burning the candle at both ends is not a sustainable way of doing things, long term. If you can find a way to increase your window of opportunity for sleeping, then it is a good idea to do so. You will feel a great deal more recharged as a result.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Simplepersonaldevelopment.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to Ahmed Dawn Dot Com site. This article originally published on the above website on June 7, 2009.

Scammers Empty out Personal Finance Author’s Bank Account

Scam Alert – Beware of Bank/Credit Card Skimming at Gas Station

First Published: December 15, 2008 ADawnJournal.com

As you know, I always talk about how to protect yourself from various scams and ask you to be extremely cautious. This implies that I am a person who is always cautious when I am exposed to banking and online transactions; however, there are times when you are unable to protect yourself from these scams, regardless of how careful you are. My bank account was recently emptied out by scammers and I will tell you what happened with a screenshot of my bank transactions.

On November 19, 2008, I went to a Chapters Indigo bookstore and attempted to pay with my bank card at the checkout. Instantly, to my surprise, my bank card was declined. This was simply impossible to me, as I always have some cash and overdraft protection on my checking account. I called my bank right away and was told that there were four withdrawals of about $200 each on November 17. Once the bank’s system found out that it was a possible scam, my account was blocked to prevent any further withdrawals.

I did not have any access to my bank account for about seven days. In the meantime, my bank performed an investigation and returned the money that the scammers took from my account. I got a new bank card in the mail and my account was operational again.

I am posting a screen shot to show you how things went:

·   Nov 17 – I paid at a Petro Canada gas station with my bank card

·   Nov 17 – Someone somehow got a hold of my personal information and withdrew money four times. Notice these amounts scammers withdrew. A regular bank machine in Canada lets you withdraw amounts in multiples of $20 such as $20, $40, $60, etc. I am not sure how they possibly withdrew amounts like $201.50, $202, etc.

·   Nov 27 – Bank completed investigation and returned $812.50

Although my bank did not tell me if the hackers got my banking info from the Petro-Canada electronic terminal, I will never use a bank card or credit card at a gas station again. In turn, I would ask you to be extremely cautious using a bank or credit card, especially at a gas station.

How to Access Airport Lounges for Free

| Mastercard Airport Experiences by LoungeKey |

If you have a business-class flight, free lounge access comes with it for free. There is another way to enter the lounge and that is by paying at the entrance when you are flying economy. But the best way to access lounges without flying business class is to have a credit card that provides free lounge passes.

Credit cards use mainly two main lounge programmes to provide free lounge access. One is Priority Pass and the other is Lounge Key MasterCard Airport Experiences. Both of these programmes are owned by the same parent company. Priority Pass has slightly more airports covered than Lounge Key.

One main difference between Priority Pass and LoungeKey is that Priority Pass sells different levels of memberships to the general public, giving free access to certain numbers of free entrances, unlimited entrances, or just the annual membership (each entrance will cost you if you just have the annual membership plan) lounges.

On the other hand, LoungeKey is only available to credit card holders. Depending on your credit cards, you can have just the annual membership, a certain number of free entrances, or unlimited free entrances. You cannot buy LoungeKey; it’s given to you by your credit cards.

I love staying in lounges at airports because it adds a different dimension to your travel experiences. Lounges provide free food, drinks, spa, messages, showers, and some lounges even have a hotel inside and cooks are on standby to create your meals. You can view my lounge experiences across the globe here.

Also, I have a video discussing how to access airport lounges for free and sign up for the LoungeKey program. I will bring you a lot more business-class flight and lounge reviews in the next weeks once my trip to Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia starts on Nov 24, 2018. Please subscribe now on my YouTube channel provided above.

Chiang Mai; The Rose of the North

Chiang Mai - Best of Both Worlds

The world in which we live is such a diverse planet that even the most committed travelers will never get to see it all. This could easily be a depressing thought; that one life is not enough for us to see everything, and that no matter how far we travel and how much we spend we will still leave something undone. What it means, in practice, is that we have to pick and choose where we go. We need to decide what we want from our travel portfolio and leave undone some of the things that do not quite come up to the standards offered elsewhere. For some of us, it is enough to see a few countries of choice; for others, to see at least one country on each continent; still others, to see as much of the world as funds and free time permit.

More and more people are of the opinion these days that, no matter where else you visit, Thailand is a country which simply has to be visited. Positioned in a continent which already offers the wonders of Japan, Korea, China, India and Pakistan among others this is no small thing. There is already so much to see and do in Asia – what makes Thailand so special? For many of us, the answer is simply in a glance. Just to look at Thailand is to see a country which combines modernity and bustling metropolises with something that is becoming harder and harder to find in this world – sheer, unique natural beauty.

Thailand is one of the world’s most beautiful countries, with simple bucolic scenes as far as the eye can see. Among this, the metropolitan area of Chiang Mai allows the traveler the best of both worlds – indeed, the best of a number of worlds, with the aforementioned natural beauty adjacent to shopping that compares favourably with many other cities, and the amazing old-fashioned buildings which are Thailand’s hallmark – beautiful Buddhist temples and traditional settings which are always worth visiting. There is much to see and do in Chiang Mai. Festivals are frequent and showcase the best of the region – from classical dance and music to traditional handicrafts – as well as the wonderful cuisine of the region.

Chiang Mai is one of Thailand’s most diverse regions. With a population in the metropolitan area of close to one million people, there are residents from a number of different tribal backgrounds. There is however virtually no clash of cultures, simply a peaceful co-existence which would make most visitors from the busier cities of the world somewhat envious. This may be why another one million people pour into the city every year from all over the world. If the mere feeling of good-natured welcome is not enough to put you at your ease, Chiang Mai is also one of the best places in which to experience the wonders of Thai massage – if you have time you can learn the basics yourself, otherwise why not simply put yourself in the hands of an expert and feel your worries float away?

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Travelnowsimply.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to Ahmed Dawn Dot Com site. This article originally published on the above website on Sep 26, 2009.