4/19/10 (Monday in the USA, Tuesday in Japan)
Around 10 hours and so many miles, till Japan. Today started rather early. I woke at 5am right to the sound of my dog clock, woofing “She’ll be coming around the mountain.” I was really tired and slept rather well considering normally I’d be too excited to even think about sleeping. Mainly it was the sheer fact that I haven’t been able to sleep for about 3-4 days due to a low hum of giddiness. It didn’t get me to pack any sooner unfortunately but lucky for me I packed relatively fast this time. I had a few indecisive moments where I couldn’t decide what to leave behind and take. I had to toss out some shirts and pjs, but everything fit nicely into my small roller. I even went through one repack to really get it jammed in there. I do recommend vacuum bags that don’t require a vacuum. You simply roll and squeeze out the air. Pretty nice and useful. I even have a minor space for souvenirs as well.
I got to the airport in no time, but I think it’s best to make sure you are their earlier than you think you need to be, because I had a small snafu that wasn’t even my fault. Computer error. I almost choked because I felt like the swat was going to pop out and shake me down for all I was worth! Anyways it was fairly smooth after that besides the horrors of LAX which was huge to say the least. Nothing is simply placed, even getting to international terminal is by bus and confusing to find the bus stop. Anyways I met a wonderful lady from Singapore and we glommed onto each other till we were able to get to the International terminal. It was consoling to find someone who was sympathetic to the cause of being lost in a strange place ( yes LAX is a strange place) and finding it easier to get lost together than alone.
On the bus, an elderly lady that looked almost like my grandmother came on toting gratuitous luggage. She decided not to sit and fielded her large unwieldy bags, unfortunately the bus stopped hard and she tumbled into my lap. I was standing and leaning against the luggage rack. I caught her luckily. Is that fate or what? It made me teary. I miss my grandma. I’m glad I caught her. I felt it was definitely an act of god that I happen to be right there to cushion her fall. Seriously I wanted to hug her because she looked a lot like my grandmother.
Anyways, much later I ended up at my terminal. I got to board nearly first after first class. I chose the two seater in the back online and I’m considering changing my seat if possible. Might not be at this point, but I’m hopeful. Also my seatmate never showed up, so I had two whole back seats to myself! Can you believe it? I kept seeing really old grouchy guys heading my way and was sure they would sit down next to me, but nope I lucked out! No offense to grouchy looking old guys. It was one of those things where you try not to be hopeful that you’ll be on your own, in case you jinx yourself! I didn’t stop looking for my seatmate till we had started moving already. It is slightly loud in the back due to ‘engine’ but I took absolutely no notice due to the awesome entertainment system, with latest movies (Asian and Korean), games, news paper, music, etc. A very awesome service. It also offers Korean audio language course! How awesome is that? My first show was “Teddy Bear’s Smile,” a Korean TV show. Looks good! Probably gonna watch princess and the frog too! Also a lot of space! I must have had a much older plane when I went to Korea or something. I had to fold myself into living origami to fit into the seat. I hope I get lucky on the way back! I mean just the plane alone and the awesome on board personal screens are enough to make me ecstatic and the seats were heaven! The whole seat reclined! I mean the whole thing, not just the back. And there were cup holders in the tray tables, in case you didn’t want to bring the whole tray out!
My stewardess was so nice and strong as well. She lived some rather large roller bags that really seem they should have been left on ground and ticketed as going under the plane, carry on or not. Anyways, I had dinner or lunch in rather short order right after some peanuts and drinks. I got to eat bibimbop (veggies, meat, with rice to pop in). As well as slightly sweet and spicy pickles. There was also a tube of hot paste, which wasn’t too hot and sesame oil. They also coupled it with hot seaweed soup, which I loooove. And also some fruit for dessert. It was delicious. I got asked twice if I knew how to eat bibimbop. I wonder if Americans tend to go for the salmon or non-ethnic foods. I appreciated their kindness in making sure I didn’t weird myself out if I weren’t familiar with the food. I also got lucky on that because I thought there was onion but it was really white radish. Lucky I tasted it and found out. Ha-ha. I keep saying ‘lucky.’ Unfortunately I don’t think I’m much of a writer, so if I put ‘anyways’ or ‘lucky’ too much, I hope you will understand my newbiness.
Anyways, that’s all for now. I’m going to sprawl across my two seats and enjoy some movies.
Later the same day around 7:30PM
I am pooped. I ran around in the rain, doubling back, trying to find my way to the hotel. I’m thinking they need a photo tour or something on their website. Lucky the information box had info on my hotel. The room was small but heaven sent and there are tons of shelves all over the place in the room. Glad for that. I’m not going to be happy sharing a shower or bathrooms, but I’ll survive I guess. Reminds me of being at camp. I also got my Ghibli tickets WOOT! I just put in the L number. Then you put in your name and a phone number. A Japanese gentleman wanted to use the machine, so finally he stepped in to help me with the machine. I got as far as the name. He turned me into Mary. Heh. But whatever, I’m going to GHIBLI! Tomorrow I’m going to try to go to Takarazuka at the crack of dawn. Well to get the tickets anyways. Well gonna go see if I need to go buy soap. Already dropped a wad of cash on an umbrella I won’t use at home.
