* * * * * Returning to my original trip - we departed Hong Kong late in the evening of 21 st October 1987, and, just like the trading clipper ships and flying boats of yesteryear, we set course for Honolulu. This flight would take 9:36 hours to complete, and mostly conducted at night. At the halfway mark in this flight, well out of range of either Tokyo or Honolulu ATC radar coverage, I was beginning to feel similar to one of Christopher Columbus’ crew members on the Santa Maria’s maiden voyage of discovery to the New World. Had we in fact sailed off the edge of the flat earth? This is what spawned this feeling of drifting isolation, dear reader: Firstly: From my darkened cockpit, all I see outside is this endl...