May 16th, In Transit

The in-flight tracker says we have 4hrs 27mins out of Tokyo, jst over the International Date Line and over the Beijing Sea. This plane is the largest I have ever been on- economy is 2-5-2. I’m lucky I only have to jump over one person to get up and stretch and go to the washroom (which for some reason scares the crap out of me- must be all the bilingual buttons…)

Dude- the one who plays Lorelai’s mother on Gilmore Girls just made an appearance in Dirty Dancing and Wayne Knight just made an appearance with a megaphone…

So far have slept maybe two hours, gotten through one book on CD, seen Music and Lyrics (cute movie), the last ½ hour of King Kong, and now Dirty Dancing. Entertaining? 12 hours have gone by pretty quickly considering it will be a different date once I arrive. Wish I had a chocolate bar right about now. Almost everybody is asleep or playing video games- wish there was someone to talk to- getting tired of trying to be entertained by sticking things in my ears. Kinda sore right now…

I wish Canadian customs forms were as pretty as the Japanese ones. These just look more sophisticated, might be all the kanji…

Such a hectic morning at 6am! We weren’t planning on leaving until 6:30 but just after 6 mom bursts into my room and tells me that we had to leave now! My flight out of XNA was delayed so I would miss my NRT connection. We race to the airport and they just get me on a flight that left in 20mins. I barely had time to say good-bye to chris and the dog- it was more of a “bye, see you in three months”- and when I got my ticket and baggage checked I only had time to give mom and dad a hug and a kiss before sprinting up the elevator to get through security. Of course, as my new flight was boarding, I got pulled aside by security for extra screening. That takes 5mins of pat-down and going through my bags before I run to my gate only to be one of the last 10 people in. By this time, I don’t even know if my luggage made the plane but, I was off to Dallas! When I called home, mom was pretty sure my bags made it on but it would be the most horrible thing ever if I arrived in Tokyo sans luggage…

3159km left!