A long day

It all started on the way to the airport at 4:30am Thursday.  An update from the airline: “Your flight to SFO has been cancelled”.  So I had some initial stress right from the start.  The clerks were nice, but since they had no flights it was up to me to hoof it to the other end of the terminal to another airline that could get me to SFO.  So much for my first experience with first class…

So, we’ve all seen those scenes in movies where a frantic travel rushes up to the counter and just buys a ticket on the next flight out.  Well, let me tell you: it’s more romantic in the movies.  In real life, it is a blood-pressure raising and nerve-wrecking experience.  Ticket in hand, I head to TSA security.  Getting my documents in order, I realize with one person ahead of me that the clerk misspelled my last name.  Great… just great.  Well, TSA didn’t seem to mind and they waved me through.  I’ll blame the 5:30am time for that.  I sit down and wait for my boarding section (last) to be called. I was able to board my new flight which would depart an hour earlier than my previous flight with little problems other than coughing up $250.  I met some interesting folks on this leg including a couple that escaped the hurricane in Cabo San Lucas and were heading home to San Francisco and a group of people that my mom and friends works with.  Small world sometimes.

The flight was nice and uneventful and since I got to SFO an hour earlier I had time to go collect my checked bags, check in again, and go through security … again.  This time I have the BusinessFirst Premier printed on my boarding pass and am able to get to the shorter lines.  After getting through security, I head to the United Club.  If you have to wait for a flight, these lounges are the way to do it.  Much relaxing was had.

Next up was the flight to Japan in a 747 in the upper deck business class.  I can now assert that travel is actually pleasant when you can afford the better cabins.  Lay flat beds, personal movie choices (mine was “Jodorowsky’s Dune”), and a multi-course meal.  Excellent food, my favorite was the cheese and port course.  Sleeping and chatting with my neighbor from Japan, Steve, was quite a nice experience as well.

Customs and immigration were the same and everyone was very nice and polite.  I need to change my cash now into yen.  Steve told me that right after the duty check after getting your bags, there is a bank on the left as you leave with the best rates.  As I head that way and get through duty check and get funneled into the exit area, I see a gathered group of people holding signs with people’s names.  Hey, that one says my name!

A very nice lady confirms my name, who I work with, and where I’m staying.  Before any readers get their eyebrows any higher, this was prearranged for me.  After confirming the details, she says my limo bus leaves in four minutes and she shoves forward to an open clerk at a counter that could either be selling tickets to limo buses or it could be a place selling lottery tickets.   Once I see a listing of hotels and the clerk points to it and asks me a question, I nod and say “Hai”.  There are words exchanged by my greeter and the clerk as they try to pronounce the English name of my hotel and clarify where it is.

I get my ticket (and receipt) and am led outside into the 23-degree humid outside.  A nice driver takes my ticket, checks my bags, and I’m led to the short line to wait for the limo bus.  About 3 seconds later it shows up and we are invited onboard.  Invited… not just have the door thrown open and a driver just stare at you.  Everything is very polite and the customer is the most important person.

On to the bus with its glorious AC and we’re on the road!  Crap… I still have US dollars.  Oh well, there is a Post Office near my hotel that has good rates.  About an hour and a half later, I’m off the bus and being invited into the hotel.  I check in with little issue and even more polite staff.  The girl that pushed my bags to my room thanked me for staying at the hotel and made very pleasant small talk in very good English.  She showed me the features of the room including a shoji.  When I first came in the room, the shoji was closed and the room looked like it was 5’x12’.  She opened that up revealing the rest of the room, asked if I would like the shades lifted to see the city.  I have a nice view of the city and I can even see straight down onto the Hie Shrine.  I will need to see that during my stay.

I check in with the wife, mom, and work to let everyone know that despite the morning’s derailment, I made it.  I grab my phone, wallet, and passport and head out.  I find a street with a 7-11 (no special Kit-Kats in this one) and from one mini-intersection, I can see about two dozen places to eat.  I settle on a ramen house when I realize it’s coin operated.  On Japanese coins.  Which I don’t have yet.  Oh right! I remember there being a bank near the 7-11.  I get over there to see a wonderful lobby that would probably be filled with people that could help me had I gotten there when it was open.

So, I walk back to the hotel.  No worries, I’m starting to feel out of place wearing shorts here since everyone is wearing pants.  No need to stick out any more than I already am, so I change into jeans, grab my cash, leave my phone on the charger by mistake, and head to the reception desk to exchange my cash.

Thusly armed with local currency, I head back to the vending machine of wonder.  The clerk directed me how to use it, however I could not understand anything.  I got the gist quickly enough.  Deposit your coins, find the picture that looks good and push the button that corresponds to that number.  My choice is not working and he comes over to help and points to a red light and I get the meaning: they're out of that.  OK, he suggests the tempura and I have enough in coins to get that one.  I give him the ticket and about 15 seconds later, I have a steaming bowl of noodles, tempura, and awesome.  Now is when I realize my phone is back in the hotel, safe and sound.  Dammit. Undeterred, I slurp my way through the bowl alone at first and within about 2 minutes I’m surrounded by commuters eating and slurping away.  An excellent meal for about $3.50.

Full belly now I head over to 7-11 for a citrus water drink and a beer.  Why not?  So I sit in my hotel room trying to decide what I will do tomorrow.  I may go to Tokyo Disneyland or Asakusa or both!

It is 9:30pm Friday and I'm ending my day ... a long day.  I will add photos to this post a little later in the week.  I can barely think straight right now.