Brussels to Bangkok in style

Many times when I am traveling I feel “How lucky was that”? I got that feeling in a big way on my latest journey to Asia. The flights Nassua-Newark and Newark-Brussels were with Continental and United and as you could imagine they were so-so at best. In Brussels things got much more interesting. They have a humble airport but I didn’t have quite enough time for a trip in to the city and it was freezing cold out to boot. After a bad cafeteria breakfast and buying some chocolate I noticed a banner for Thai Airways saying their inaugural flight from Brussels to Bangkok was Nov 17. This is my flight!! Once I saw this I made a beeline to the gate. What a scene that was! Instead of the usual rows of chairs there was bunches of tables with people standing at them gaily eating fine hor ‘dourves and drinking champagne, a fine banquet!! By chance I joined a table that had the Thai PR gals running the event. I even got to chat with the president and exec VP of Thai Airways. Waiters were coming around about every two minutes topping up drinks or bringing more tempting food. As part of the promotion there were 20, that’s right 20, Miss Belgium contestants buzzing around as well as the reigning Miss Belgium. They were being flown to Thailand as part of the promotion.
The fun continued as we boarded. On every seat there were beautiful Belgian chocolates tailor made for the event and a nice eco guidebook for Thailand. After we got up in the air the stewardesses passed out more champagne to everyone and the executives mingled down the aisles toasting everyone. There was a renowned Thai chef in the galley and the roasted Tilapia fillet for dinner was superb, hard to believe you could have such a good meal on a plane. As usual, the Thai Airways service was great. Before landing we got a lovely Belgian waffle breakfast to cap things off nicely. The reigning Miss Thailand greeted us at our gate, bless her, it was like 6 AM…..Very lucky indeed.