We left from IAD on time (what a miracle!) at 9:55 AM on United 881 for Chicago O'Hare. Rather ironic but I have NEVER been to O'Hare before. Why ironic? Because I only fly on United and that's United's busiest airport hub. I'm still waiting for Premier status (LOL), I was hoping this trip to Japan would clinch it but I haven't heard anything from United yet. My god, I actually had to wait quite a while to use the bathroom in this airport. You don't understand you never have to wait in line at Dulles. But then again, no one really chooses to go there *grin* unless you're like me and you live in this neck of the woods and hate how we have the ugliest airport on record.
My ears were completely stuffed up - I had a quasi cold/allergy problem before leaving so my whole head felt like it was ready to explode. But we boarded the next plane with what seemed like little hassle at 11:30 AM Central - it's so nice to bum a ride with my dad, who has Premier status. Everything moves so much faster that way. Also, little perks like Economy Plus do wonders. However, Plus does *not* shorten your trip - we were supposed to leave O'Hare (ORD) at 12:15 PM and we ended up not getting back up in the air until after 1:20 PM. Apparently the traffic controllers were not doing their job, they didn't let us leave until then! Hohum.
*By this time, Mary with her problem with motion sickness is battling, 2 Dramamines in her, figuring she'll have to take more on the way to Japan. Thinking that she is going halfway around the world to see her favorite band in concert. Finally. So she can say yes, she has been to a Duran Duran concert! At least she won't be in the minority anymore. Yes indeed...*
Finally we leave Chicago, I am in a Dramamine stupor, and give a dirty look to any stewardess who wants to wake me up from the madness. I silently protest the fact that I've already seen 2 of the 4 movies on my last trip I took (my May trip to Hawaii) - "Miss Congeniality" and "You Can Count on Me." And the 3rd one is an old Julia Roberts film from the past, "Mystic Pizza" - I saw that sometime in the '80s, my gawd! ("Chocolat," which was also shown on the way back from my Hawaii trip, reared its ugly head when I returned from Japan. Be warned, I'm picky about movies.) I watch a bit of "State and Main" with William H. Macy but realize it's way too boring for me - it bored me out of my mind! Also, it stars Sarah Jessica Parker, whom I can't stand, so I give up and go to sleep. We sped past Kenosha and Milwaukee, up into Canada, past Anchorage, Alaska, sped over the Bering Strait, making a full loop to get to Japan. 12 hours later. Have to go through immigration and customs, that's always fun. *sarcasm alert* We finally got our luggage cleared and head over to the Airport Limousine counter, where we are informed that we have 3 minutes to make the #4 Shinagawa bus. Whoosh! We just make it, though it is raining like a mofo the first day I am in Japan. We don't arrive until 6 PM Japan time to our home away from home for the next 8 days - the Shinagawa Prince Hotel in the Shinagawa district of Tokyo. Tokyo, by the way, for you Japanese buffs out there, means "Eastern capital" (i.e. Eastern to Kyoto, which was the capital of Japan for quite a long time) and Kyoto means "capital of capital."
So we get to the hotel and I almost died laughing when we opened the door to our room, which was barely the size of my dad's suitcase. Hahaha! I guess I'm spoiled, most of the hotel rooms in the U.S. are pretty large in comparison. There's a master power switch near the door, so I suppose you can turn on or off everything in the whole room. There are no light switches because all the buttons are on the console next to the beds. I hate baseball so I was getting bored watching TV - it was good to see an occasionally rugby game, because I *love* rugby and American football. I decide I need a rest so I sack out on my bed and enter LaLaLand. My dad leaves and finds some dinner. I was recovering from a cold exacerbated by allergy from the last weekend and now I was paying for it. My nose was stuffed up and I couldn't hear anything for the first 2 days. Thank god I got my hearing back to normal before Sunday's concert!
click here for episode 2
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