Living in Hello Kitty’s world. Guess what people are getting as gifts when I return?

My fantasy was to be swaddled in Hello Kitty (nothing untoward you pervs!) for 12 glorious hours.

Belted, that is, into a spacious seat on one of Eva Air’s Hello Kitty-wrapped 747-400s.

Sadly, was not to be. No living a fantasy on this flight. (Google Eva Air and you’ll see the airline does indeed have Hello Kitty planes.)

Eva is the airline I’m flying to Kuala Lumpur, with a four-hour layover in Taipei, where I’m writing this and listening to bagpipe music. No lie.

Pretty happy with Eva’s service. Eva is a member of the Star Alliance, along with Air Canada, United and a host of other airlines with pretty good safety records. Asian airlines excel when it comes to service.

Here’s how it has gone so far:

• Was dreading check-in at Vancouver airport. And when I got there, I could see why they asked passengers to arrive 4 hours early. Luckily, I was able to avoid the long lineup because I checked-in online. Eva has a special counter for on-line check-in. Seems most travellers on the flight didn’t bother to do that. Tank tip: always check-in on-line.
• Love the 747. My favourite plane off all time. A monster in the sky with room for 372 passengers. Warning if you want to fly Eva in economy: The seats are narrow. If you’re sporting a North American-sized girth, you may have to spring for business class or join a gym.
• Got lots of sleep. Zonked out for about eight of the 11 hours on the plane. Breakfast a very yummy omelet with BACON.
• This part of Asia is 15 hours ahead of Vancouver. Means we left in the dark and arrived in Taiwan in the dark. Good for sleeping. And, I imagine, for the flight attendants who don’t have to deal with drunk, moron passengers.

Based on 12 hours of Eva-confinement, I’d fly them again. Next leg: Taipei to Kuala Lumpur. Overnight layover. Then flight to Tawau in the morning.

Oh, and I’ve added one more wish to the list besides finding Nemo and Orangutans. I’m also determined to find an photograph an Eva Hello Kitty-wrapped airplane.

Long and crazy Eva check-in line-up at YVR. Sidestepped this horror by checking-in online earlier in the day.

Zonked out, mostly, passengers on the Eva flight.

Narrow seats in Eva economy class. Start dieting now, folks.

Giant bathroom in Taipei airport. Awesome. So clean, I would eat bacon off the floor if I had to.