Day One - Travel

Mom picked me up in the morning to head to the airport. Two pit stops along the way; Panera for breakfast and a bagel to go for later and also to pick up Tom and Dede. We found Lew and Chantel right as we walked in, checked in, and headed to security. No problems there except they wanted to take a closer look at Toms bag. It's well known that in China they don't have/use toilet paper. Tom is adequately prepared with his Costco sized pack of wipes. Just a bit suspicious...

We headed straight to the Admiral's Club to relax for an hour or so. Had a couple of free sodas and ate my bagel. I was feeling pretty uppity there with all the business people. Bathrooms were clean, could be work being in the club just for that! 

Headed back down to the terminals, bought a $3.00 bottle of water and boarded the plane rather quickly. While James and I sat in "Economy" Tom and Dede upgraded to business class. James said we got to sit with the animals in the back of the plane right next to the chickens! Oh chickens, hope someone is doing chores for me while I'm gone, more on that later. We took off on time but the captain said we have a strong headwind that will delay out arrival by about 20 minute. We were cruising at a cool 34,000 feet and will cross over Canada, Alaska, and the International Date Line on our way to Narita, Japan. 

We were served three meals and a snack which was actually too much. Also got a turkey and cheese sandwich and pizza and fruit. It was all mediocre at best but hey, it's airplane food. 

We chased the sunset our whole flight. It's tomorrow already and we didn't see darkness at all. 

We landed safely in Japan only a few minutes late. Had to go through security again before getting to our gate. We had just enough time to refill water bottles and use the bathrooms (they were NOT western style). May have peed a bit on my shoes... Practice, I have a feeling, will make perfect. We got another meal on the Japanese flight to Beijing. I was less than impressed but it did come with ice-cream. 

Found luggage, exchanged some cash, met our tour guide Eddie, and boarded the 40 minute bus ride to the hotel. The rooms are nice and clean. Bathrooms have everything you need and beds are hard as rocks.