Voted the best airline in the world by you, the readers of Global Traveler, I travel today to Asia on Singapore Airlines. I will be flying on their all-business class flight from Newark to Singapore with 100 of the new business class seats that have very interesting designs. The plane is an Airbus 340-500 and I believe the flight is about 18 hours non-stop.

This design will be highlighted in the September issue in our Business and First Class Survey. Its pitch, by normal standards, would indicate this to be a slanted flat seat rather than 180 degrees fully flat. But SQ (2 digit code of Singapore Airlines for those who don’t know) had an ingenious design that has a very wide seat, tapering to a more narrow head and foot so that the head and foot area are shared. Of course, these areas are capsulated so head and foot are not near each other, but this allows SQ to fit in 100 business class seats on this plane. With fuel prices, getting the most passengers on this flight is essential to its success.

On this flight, I plan about six hours of work and about 10 hours of sleep. Flat is the key to sleeping, and on my Asiana Airlines return flight from Seoul last March, I slept 10 of the 12.5 hours to New York. “Like a baby,” said one of the flight attendants.

(Posing with the Asiana flight attendants, voted best in the world by readers)

My trip includes a brief stop and meetings in Singapore and then several days of meetings in Hong Kong. Stay tuned!

-Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

This past Tuesday, the GT crew descended upon NYC to help conduct our annual Wines on the Wing Airline Wine Competition. The blind tasting took place at the Jumeirah Essex House in NYC. The judges were a panel of 39 experts gathered from around the NYC area who judged over 100 wines submitted from approximately 30 airlines! Submitted wines must be from first and business class cabins.

Global Traveler is the only US based magazine to conduct such a survey. For months ahead of time, we are feverishly preparing - sending wine letter requests, helping airlines get the wines into the US and to our PA offices, numbering and categorizing the wines, securing the proper location and supplies, following up with the wine judges, etc. And none of this would come together without the work of Eunice Fried, our wine columnist, a true expert in the field who is the reason why everything is perfectly organized and the judges we attract are a top notch mixture of master sommeliers, winemakers, restaurant owners, teachers and wine professionals.

Last year was the first one I attended and it is quite interesting to watch the way the judges taste the wines. First they judge the appearance - looking at it through the glass, swirling it around in the glass. Then, aroma is judged. The interesting part to me was that the judges actually spit out the wine. They all take different size sips, some spit out more than others, it all varies, but it is a very interesting process to watch. The room is very quiet and the tasting is efficient and moves rather quickly. Wines are tasted in flights and scored on a scale of 20.

And now begins the work of calculating the results and finding the winners! Awards are given for “Best Overall Wines on the Wing,” “Best Red Wine,” “Best White Wine” and “Best Sparkling Wine.” Will last year’s winner, EVA Air, take top honors again - our results are revealed in the August issue of Global Traveler -stay tuned!

-Kimberly Krol, circulation and public relations executive

I was home over the weekend and actually remembered the Oscars were on. I had some people over and as the show began, I realized I had not seen one nominated movie! Or so I thought. As the night progressed, I realized I had seen a few - Ratatouille and Michael Clayton. Where had I seen these movies without having gone to a movie theater in over six months? On airplanes, of course! I watched Michael Clayton onboard Continental’s flight 69 from Stockholm to Newark, but was not able to see the end as we were approaching Newark. I saw Ratatouille onboard Asiana going from NY to Seoul nonstop. With 14 hours of no Internet, I had time to sit back and watch a film - Oscar-worthy no less!

I think most business travelers would agree that it is in the air when they have the most time to catch up on their films. On that Continental flight, I would not have even watched Michael Clayton if it hadn’t been for the pilot that sat next to me. He said he had been meaning to rent it, but why not kill two birds with one stone and watch it onboard. I’m glad he suggested it as it helped me pass the time and now I find the need to go and rent it myself to see the end!

It just goes to show that the attention to details on planes these days really does make a difference. From flight attendants, color scheme of the interior of the aircraft, food and wine and, of course, to the onboard entertainment system!

-Alex Young, vice president and associate publisher

It’s back to business as normal for all Global Traveler staffers after a visit to New York and a successful awards luncheon on Wednesday!

Over 300 travel industry elite turned out for our luncheon at the Jumeirah Essex House and enjoyed the festivities as over 40 awards were presented. The delicious lunch consisted of tomato and mozzarella salad, filet of beef, and a chocolate passionfruit dome dessert. The chocolate centerpieces adorned with a white chocolate GT logo were also a big hit! But the true highlight was Ivana Trump, guest of honor on behalf of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Ms. Trump was gracious, generous and a real treat. The luncheon went off without a hitch and the day was wonderful. Check out our upcoming March issue for the complete recap and photos of the event. (You can also read about the award-winners in our December issue.)

The time away in New York was also a great opportunity for the staff to get together and regroup. Everyone got a chance to meet the newest staffers, Morissa and Courtney. All the different departments of the magazine were able to meet and discuss - look for some exciting changes coming to the magazine and the Web site in the upcoming months. And, once again, we all had a chance to laugh, catch up and create stories that we will all be talking about for weeks to come.

But all good things come to an end, and we are all back in our respective offices in Yardley, New York, Boston, Florida, Chicago and LA hard at work again.

Check out Monday’s blog, the first written by the newest addition to the GT team - Courtney Centeno. Courtney joins us as a recent graduate from Mt. Holyoke and is working with Alex Young in New York as an account executive. Welcome Courtney!

– Kimberly Krol, circulation and public relations executive

The entire Global Traveler staff is in New York today for our annual GTTested Awards luncheon at the Jumeirah Essex House, together with hundreds of the top people in the travel industry. Check our upcoming blogs for the whole scoop!