| I don't want to change the world, I just want to leave it darker |
[Dec. 23rd, 2009|01:15 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Without You - Breaking Benjamin | ] |
Now that my fingers are a bit more defrosted, I'm ready to type up the report on my trip to Japan.
First off, I didn't really sleep at all the night before. I spent the day with my family. I made cupcakes, played Rock Band with my mom, and then my dad went to Houlihan's and brought us home take out, which we all ate together. Then, I played a bit more Rock Band with my mom before Adam woke up. It started off just me and him playing RB together. Then I invited Ruth and we took turns switching between guitar and vocals. Then Sock showed up at the apartment so he joined us on Adam's side, which meant we had a full band. We played until Adam's dad came back with lunch, so they went to eat and me and Ruth took a break.
The rest of the night was spent with me finishing up packing and then playing/watching Ruth play Elite Beat Agents on her Nintendo DS. At around 4:30, I was too tired, so I fell asleep on the floor listening to Ruth play. The next thing I knew, it was 6:15 and I needed to start getting ready to head off. I had everything ready but my dad noticed that the one suitcase wasn't closing all the way. So after trying to fix it and not being able to, we got a new suitcase which we repacked. The next problem was my mom's car was low on gas, so me, Ruth and my dad all packed into Peter the Prius and my mom said she'd meet us there.
Third problem was, en route, I realized I forgot my wedding ring in my room. (Oops) By then it was too late to go back, though, so my dad said he'd send it to me later.
We made it the airport with no problems, checked in with no problems, and got my ticket with half an hour or so to spare before I had to start making my way to the gate. Well, the checking in part was not flawless. I showed up with three bags: two suitcases and one duffel, ready to pay the extra fee for the third bag. The lady said that if the bag wasn't too heavy, I should consider carrying it since an extra bag is 130 dollars. When I asked about getting any difficulty from staff since it's technically bigger than personal item, she said: just tell them it's a really big purse. Actually I never had to explain anything to anyone, and I got through with little problem other than the weight of it.
At any rate, finally it was time for goodbyes. We all cried and hugged and promised to see each other again soon, and then I was through the metal detectors and at the gate. The flight was late, but the flight people kept saying it was okay and we'd still get to Newark at the same time. After waiting for the plane, waiting to take off, and then waiting to land (I swear it was the slowest landing in the history of landing) we finally arrive at the airport... at 10:37. My next flight was at 11:10 and I had no idea where the gate was and I had been expecting an hour to find it. And I still had another 10 minutes before we taxi-ed up to the gate and got off and then waited for my big duffel bag, since they had to check it in because it wouldn't fit in the overhead compartments.
The Japan gate wasn't too hard to find, it was just not next door. By the time I arrived, my arm/shoulder hurt so bad, but the flight was delayed as well, so I had more than enough time to go to the bathroom before I boarded. I had help from a cute boy putting my big duffel bag up in one of the compartments and then my found my seat no problem. Thankfully I had a really nice girl as a seat mate which was nice because for some reason on this flight I kept having to pee every two hours.
Other then the pee problem, it wasn't too bad other than just being long. By the last three hours, my butt started hurting from sitting, even with the pillow/blanket combination I was using as a cushion. Continental has those fancy touch screens on the backs of the seats and instead of having a couple movies to choose from, they have a pretty wide selection, including new releases, along with television shows. I saw a couple episodes of Dexter, one of Man v Food, one of Anthony Bourdain, Madagascar and Mars Attacks. I watched a couple other random shows just because I needed something to watch while I ate food. The food itself was decent, although the best was the Haagen-Daz vanilla ice cream. I read my book a little, played a little Dissidia, slept a little although not very well.
And then finally, we were beginning our descent and I got to fill out the customs papers. I was worried because one of the questions they ask is for the number of where you're staying and I forgot to write down Adam's number before I left. But it was a baseless fear, because they never asked.
Usually when I fly to Japan, the plane is full of foreigners but this time it was full of Japanese, I guess going home for the holidays. This was great because when we got out and went to immigration, my line was the shortest for once. I got through in like five minutes. I had to give my finger prints twice but no questions or problems otherwise. Of course then my bags were the last ones out, but one of the guys working at the airport saw me with my two suitcases, one duffel bag and one backpack and got me a cart.
And then I walked out into the main waiting area and Adam was there!
First we took care of my two suitcases and set them up to have them shipped to the apartment. In fact, I'm waiting for them right now. Technically, they should be here between noon and 2 so they have an hour before they're officially late. With that out of the way, I exchanged some of my money and then we bought a ticket to get back to Tokyo. We ended up going to Shinjuku and then switching to the Yamanote to take us all the way to Ikebukuro. Once there, we swung by the sushi shop for dins, and for the record we had 13 plates all together and it cost less than 30 dollars.
By this point I was so exhausted. I fell asleep on Adam on the train ride to Shiki and I was stumbling along in a cold, half-daze back to the apartment. As we passed this one coffee shop, Adam's dad was inside and he saw us and came out to say hi. We're meeting up with him and Sock later tonight and their mom, so I'm excited. When we got back home, I dumped my stuff in the kitchen, set up my lap-top, and then I was pretty much out.
I woke up roughly 8 hours later, at 6-7 am :p Adam had to leave for work at 8 am, so I got ready and then walked with him to the station so I could pick up something to eat on the way back. The grocery store was still closed, so I went to the convenience store and got some onigiri and a microwave soup, which I just ate. I also made some coffee in the Japanese coffee pot, which will be replaced by the American one as soon as it arrives on the slow boat.
And now I'm just chilling. Originally, I had wanted to start getting stuff done for my gaijin card, but everything is closed today because it's a public holiday, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow. But it's okay. It gives me a day to just relax.
And now we're up to date! |
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