Tokyo!: Back to Tokyo....and a surprise!

Another Tokyo adventure has begun! I left home just after 5AM on Monday, and was surprised to see how much traffic was at the airport drop off! There were a few people in front of me at the first class checkin, whereas last year there were none. And, I was really happy that I had paid for TSA PreCheck! The regular security line was all the way across the back side of the airport, and then zig zagged back into the ropes area. The PreCheck line took maybe 5-10 minutes but wasn't bad. The congestion may have been because this year’s flight was on a Monday.

Since my ticket is first class, I could go to the American lounge and wait. I got some yogurt and juice for breakfast. I had a nice seatmate who works for Cisco and was heading to San Jose. The plane was almost 30 min late leaving, since it was packed and it took everyone so long to get all their carryons stored. I was worried since I only had 45 minutes for a connection in Dallas. We ended up touching down a few minutes early, but then had to wait for a gate. I was in the first row so got off first. Fortunately, the gate we pulled in to was only two down from the one I was leaving on! Most people had already boarded when I got there. I have my little business class cubby that's just like the one I had last year.

The flight was 13 hours. I watched two movies, sorted some pictures on my computer, and tried to sleep, but wasn't very successful at that. Even though my seat reclines flat and I'm not nearly as anxious on this trip, somehow, sleep kept avoiding me! Every few hours, they would bring another meal, and it as hard to figure out where I was in which day! Everyone kept the shades closed since we were pretty much keeping up with the sun, and it never got dark.

Tokyo airport is huge and it took a lot of walking to get to immigration and customs. You have to put your fingers on a scanner and look into a camera at immigration. Alan had sent me a SIM card for my phone, which I inserted while I was on the plane, but needed wifi to activate. They have free wifi in the airport and on the train. I found the same train ticket counter and didn't have to wait long to get moving again. Japan really knows how to do trains!

It's a 45 minute ride into the city, and Alan met me at Tokyo Station. We took two more trains to get to their apartment.

He told me that Yuka has had a head cold for the past few days and was sort of dragging, but the real reason is that she is expecting our second grandchild in November!! She has trouble facing food right now, so won't be cooking while I'm here. She is beginning to keep some things down now.

We walked in a drizzle to the nearby mall to a deli to get some dinner and then went back to their apartment to eat it. I brought out one of the toys that I had brought for Kent, and we played for a little while. I was dragging, too, by this point, so Alan went with me for the 8 minute walk to my hotel.

I slept for 10 hours, and now feel human again!