TallGuyJohninBKK

Why are you recommending the United Airlines / ANA combo via Japan for the U.S. bound trip? Just on the basis of price, or something else? It's been a long while since I've been on a United Airlines flight.... but the memories I have aren't particularly good ones. Also, in your route above, which is the two carriers is doing the long-haul U.S. portion? Also, I take it your flight pairing above also would involve having to travel from one airport to another (Narita - Haneda) once arriving in Japan? I saw some mention that that kind of arrangement requires getting a Japanese transit visa?

I also wouldn't mind finding a decent, affordable flight transiting thru Changi Airport in Singapore, if that were possible.... (though I think Sing Air itself is probably out of our preferred air ticket budget). Changi Airport has an official See's Candies shop in the airport there on the departure side, and that's one of the things we always buy in the U.S. to bring back home here as a treat. (There's also a See's counter in the international airside terminal at LAX). https://chocolateshops.sees.com/sg-02/singapore/chocolate_shops_singapore_sg-02_intl-sg-sin.html

When you bought your tickets on the EVA website, did you have the option to book the exit row seat for yourself then and have the seat surcharge figured into your total booking price, OR, was it a deal where they'd charge you extra seat fee at the check-in counter on top of your base ticket? Also, was the extra $200 going to be just for the US-Taipei segment, or it would have covered exit row assignment for both segments -- BKK-Taipei and then Taipei-US? PS - In the past with EVA, you could NOT pre-book an emergency exit row seat in economy with EVA via their website. They'd only assign those exit row seats checkin, sometimes for free, sometimes for an extra fee. In my case, in the past, because of my height, they'd often have pity and give me the seat assignment for free.... But that was 3+ years ago now, so may no longer apply! Thanks!

Now that's interesting about being limited to the outbound departure lounge, IF it's still the case now. I'll check with EVA about that, because of your tip! In the past pre-COVID, of course, once you got off the BKK flight and cleared a quick security scanner check, you were free to roam the entire terminal airside. The wife and I always used to head for the upstairs eating area where they used to have a Starbucks, I think a Burger King or Carl's Jr. (can't recall now), and several other nice eateries. Used to be an easy and comfortable way to spend 3-4 hours.

That sounds dead-on to me, based on my past history with EVA.... It's no coincidence, then, that in past years, I almost always ended up buying my U.S. air tickets with them during the latter part of September! ????

None of that sounds very appealing... ???? By comparison, EVA-Taipei transit is (was) quick, easy and comfortable.

I'm 6-8, the wife is 5-4. ????

You, apparently quite intentionally, left out other pertinent parts of their summary: "whether the association between COVID-19 vaccine and autoimmune manifestations is coincidental or causal remains to be elucidated." AND "In fact, we do not aim to disavow the overwhelming benefits of mass COVID-19 vaccination in preventing COVID-19 morbidity and mortality." Also, from everything I've read elsewhere on this topic, like most other potential COVID vaccination related side effects that are significant, these type are believed to be exceedingly rare. Especially considering that there have been almost 13 BILLION COVID vaccine doses administered thus far since they were first made available. And have been credited with saving some 20 million lives worldwide in just their first year of use, people who otherwise would have died from COVID. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2022/06/covid-19-vaccines-saved-estimated-20-million-lives-1-year

I've always wanted to give Cathay a try in the past... But every time I checked for a booking, it seemed that their prices to the West Coast were either VERY high... OR.... the more reasonable fares for some reason had LONG layover times like double digits of hours.... These days, with mainland China's increasing control over and intrusion into security issues in Hong Kong, as an American, I'm feeling a bit hesitant to want to voluntarily land myself into their clutches.

As I mentioned belatedly above, given that I'm quite tall, I've always had problems in the past with legroom and seat width when I've flown internationally on JAL or ANA in economy.... But my last round with them was many many years ago now....

I'd be happy to go EVA again if I could find economy flights in December under the $1000 per person rate... Last time I checked online, EVA's year end fares showing right now were running above that rate. Transiting at Taipei Airport with EVA has always been a very easy and relaxing experience, with lots of no-fee places to relax, get some food, use wifi, etc etc... And their ground staff there has always been very helpful and usually proficient in English. Also, their standard layover times at Taipei on flights to the West Coast seemed pre-COVID to almost always have been 4-6 hours -- which for my tastes was just about right!

Thanks very much for those details. Can you elaborate on the security check and transit issues you mention above with Philippine Airlines? When I price shopped lately for year-end flights to L.A. or S.F., PA had some of the best available prices for the route. But I've never flown PA before and never transited thru Manila. Though the past reports I've seen of Manila transit and PA international flights themselves haven't overall been very encouraging.... And thus made me feel a bit reluctant to give them a try....despite the price.

FWIW, on my recent mailed EMS submission to the US Embassy BKK, it arrived on a weekday and the EMS tracking website for my envelope did show an acceptance signature from some kind of a guard/guard gate staff there.

I got the US Embassy email this morning including an EMS tracking number showing the passport packet had been entered into the EMS system but not actually mailed out yet. I believe the email said I should receive the actual passport within 2-3 days of the email.

It appears hair loss, often temporary, can be a potential side effect of BOTH COVID infections and COVID vaccinations in certain cases. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8673931/ "Alopecia areata (AA) is a T lymphocyte-mediated autoimmune condition characterized by hair loss due to an inflammatory response targeting the hair follicle. Recent reports have suggested that COVID-19 may trigger a variety of autoimmune conditions, including AA. Herein, we report 9 cases of AA following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination." ... "Hair loss following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination is an increasingly reported phenomenon in the United States and globally.... This report is limited by the fact that cause and effect cannot be clearly identified in any of the cases." "Of note, many medical treatments exist for alopecia, and spontaneous hair regrowth is estimated to occur in approximately 80% of patients within a year after the first incidence of hair loss." Also more here on how COVID infection itself can cause hair loss: "The prevalence of hair loss has increased during COVID-19. In this study, we review the current literature on incidence and characteristics of various types of COVID-19-related and COVID-19-vaccine- related hair loss..." https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dth.15433

The wife and I may be planning a trip back to the U.S. toward the end of the year -- first time outside of Thailand since COVID began nearly 3 years ago.... And looking for any recommendations / experiences from anyone who's gone TH - U.S. lately, under the new, relaxed COVID rules. I used to always default to EVA Air with their Taipei layover followed by one of their West Coast destinations. But they were out of U.S. travel from Thailand for a long time, not allowing international transit via Taipei because of COVID. So it's been a long time since I took them, their prices I checked lately seemed quite high, and I have no idea what the current lay of the land for travel to the U.S. is with the various carriers. Any recent experiences / recommendations for a reasonably pleasant, affordable journey? PS - I should have mentioned above, I'm a TALL guy who needs seat legroom, but don't fancy shelling out for business class... So I typically look for airlines where I can somehow get the emergency exit row seating in economy.

FYI, I mailed my new passport application to the U.S. Embassy BKK back on Aug. 15, with it arriving there the next day the 16th via EMS. I kept checking the above State Department website periodically for about the first week or so after my submission to see if my application would show up in their system, but it never did during that initial first week period, so I gave up on it for a while at that point. Today, at 15 days after my original submission, I want back to the above State Department website and now finally it shows the status of my application. And to my surprise, it indicated the U.S. folks sent my passport back to the U.S. Embassy BKK as of Aug. 23. After that, the website's advice gets to be typically governmentally confusing. The website starts out saying I should receive my passport "on or around" Aug. 26 -- just three days after their mailing date (which makes no sense, considering they're in the U.S., I'm in Thailand, and it's going to get remailed along the way). But after telling me that unlikely date, further down on the page, the website has a footnote saying that for those who applied at a U.S. Embassy or Consulate abroad (such as us folks here), it may take up to 7 business days to get from the U.S. to the Embassy where you applied. Which in my case, the 7th business day from my supposed Aug. 23 mailing date out of the U.S. would put the potential arrival date to the U.S. Embassy here as late as tomorrow, Sept. 1... And then some unspecified number of additional days to get remailed from the U.S. Embassy here onward to me in BKK. In short, I was at 15 days post submission as of today/Wednesday, and tomorrow will be 16 days.... So I'm hoping the new passport book shows up either later this week or early next week... since Thai Immigration is beckoning me off on the horizon. UPSHOT of my experience above -- don't expect the State Department tracking website to provide any information of the status of your new passport application for perhaps at least a week or so AFTER you've submitted it to the U.S. Embassy in BKK. Anyone have any different, better, worse experience with that?

Some places are still finding themselves having to go in the opposite direction: Germany tightens COVID rules for travel during fall, winter August 24, 2022 BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Cabinet approved legislation Wednesday that ensures basic protective measures against the coronavirus pandemic are continued during the fall and winter when more virus cases are expected. The presentation of the rules — which also include the new obligation to wear N95-type face masks during all long-distance travel by train and bus as well as on planes — coincided with the publication of photos showing the chancellor and German Economy Minister Robert Habeck flying to Canada earlier this week without wearing masks. The pictures triggered strong public criticism of an alleged double standard for politicians and regular people. Currently, medical face masks are mandatory on planes and public transport though N95-style masks are recommended. (more) https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-education-germany-olaf-scholz-a9fb2cda8c0a295c32d88455dfb59ec1

From the full report linked above: "Although cardiovascular events have been reported with the COVID-19 vaccine, causality has yet to be established, because such cardiovascular adverse events are also common among the general public who do not receive the intervention." AND "the incidence of COVID-19 [disease]-associated cardiac injury or myocarditis is much higher, estimated to be 100 times higher than mRNA COVID-19-related myocarditis." AND "The adverse cardiovascular manifestations observed in this adolescent cohort were both mild and transient."

Contrary to your suggestion, I don't rely on Barbara Boxer or any other politicians to inform my views on global climate warming, nor on political idealogue, non-scientist authors like Epstein. (Though her quote did nicely point out that he too has absolutely no scientific qualifications in the climate science field.) But I DO listen to the overwhelming majority of professional climate scientists and researchers who, as prior posts in this thread well illustrate, tell us man-made global warming is real and headed toward getting worse in the years ahead.

Per Johns Hopkins and its Aug. 30 update: "WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced during an August 25 briefing that 1 million people have died with COVID-19 in 2022 thus far. ... According to the WHO, 136 countries failed to reach the June target of vaccinating 70% of their populations. Among those countries, 66 have vaccination coverage below 40% and 10 are below 10%, leaving one-third of the world’s population unvaccinated." ... "While 67.6% of the world’s population has received at least one dose of a vaccine—close to the WHO’s recently missed goal of 70% by mid-2022—only 20.9% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose." https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/resources/COVID-19/COVID-19-SituationReports.html

The point of my prior post and its quoted content was to point out your source's history of publishing misinformation relating to science and global warming. The right-wing political part just came along for the ride in the quote at hand. Although, the two different elements -- climate misinformation and right-wing politics -- do seem to often share the same bed.

I don't need to read the guy's whole book to understand...based on some background checking...that... --he's not an academic climate scientist --he's not an impartial, objective observer guided by research findings --he is a political hack with ties to right-wing extremist and oil industry promoters. That's more than enough for me to disregard his opinions on the scientific subject at hand. Regarding his past testimony at a congressional hearing: "Epstein suggested that rising carbon dioxide levels "benefit plants and Americans." When questioned by committee member Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) as to why Epstein, whose academic training is in philosophy, was even there, Epstein responded, "to teach you how to think clearly." Boxer replied "... you are a philosopher, not a scientist, and I don’t appreciate getting lectured by a philosopher about science."[18][19] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Epstein_(American_writer)#Center_for_Industrial_Progress

Spiked Magazine "Overall, we rate Spiked Magazine Right Biased based on story selection and editorial positions that mostly favor the right. We also rate them Mixed for factual reporting due to a failed fact check and publishing misleading scientific information." ... Funding has come from the Charles Koch Foundation. They have also published misleading information such as this: Global warming: the 97% fallacy." https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/spiked-magazine/

Your comment above presumes some position on my part that is an incorrect presumption. And the rest of what you're on about, I have no idea, and suspect it has little relevance to the quote of mine you're responding to.