Technically
it is August 3 as it is currently 12:17am.
Dan and I have to catch our plane at5:45am.
Since we have to be at the airport 2 hours early (for an international
flight - thus 3:45am), we have decided to stay up tonight.
We have 2.5 hours before we leave the house.
These last 2.5 hours will not be filled with frantic packing or
trip-planning activities as we have all but completed packing, etc.
Dan
and I will arrive in Tokyo at 1:25pm on August 4 after taking a two-hour layover
in Atlanta. Ryoko (since she works
at Narita Airport) will actually meet us outside of customs about an hour after
we get in. After that, we plan to
catch the Narita Express (NEX) to Tokyo Station, then take a Shinkansen (Bullet
Train) to Sendai station. The Arais
and the Oshimas are planning to meet us at the Central Exit (Chuo Guchi).
Dan
and I are going to stay with the Oshimas’, the Arais’, and even the Onos’.
Our first night we will stay at the Oshimas.
On the fifth, we move to the Arais to prepare for an early morning
departure on a bus tour. We will
return the next day and move to the Onos’ where we will stay for three days
(August 7, 8 and 9). The remaining
days will be spent at the Oshimas’. We
return to the US on August 12. Eight
days. Not long enough, by any
means.
The
bus tour on the 6th/7th will be to see the Nebuta festival
in Aomori. Part of the bus tour
includes a stop by a (from what I understand, natural) hot springs.
Miho and her fiancée, Kei, will also be on the trip so Kei will be able
to help Dan with that.
As
for the specifics of the rest of the trip, apparently plans have been made
though we do not know what they are. I
am very excited to see what this trip holds.
This is Dan’s first trip to Japan. I say “first” because I fully intend on many more trips during our (hopefully long) life together. I am anxious to see what he thinks of Japan and of me in Japan. Hopefully, I will get him to share some of his thoughts and views on the trip later in this journal.
* * * * *
It is two hours before we need to leave for the airport. My greatest fear is to miss the NEX train to Tokyo - all in all, if that is the worst thing that can happen, we are doing pretty good.
*
* * * *
Dan
and I have figured that we will be doing almost 24 hours of traveling to get to
our destination. More than 24
hours, actually. We arrived at the
airport at 4am Texas time, 6pm Japan time.
We will arrive in Sendai at 7:19pm - 25 hours later.
Our
trip consists of many transfers. Simplistically,
it is something like this:
We get on the plane, off the plane, on the plane, off the plane, on the train,
off the train, on the train, off the train. Then we are there!
* * * * *
Right
now it is 9:15pm Tokyo-time, 8:15am Atlanta-time.
We will land in Atlanta at 8:48am. My
dad actually should meet us at our gate since he was visiting my grandma and
flying home today.
I don’t recall a plane ever being so cold. I have one blanket wrapped around me, but it is not enough. It’s so miserable. Not that the actual act of traveling is every very pleasant, but this trip so far seems even less so. I suppose if I warmed up, got the Delta cookie taste out of my mouth, and my eyes were able to rewet themselves, I might have a slightly more positive outlook. Right now I am just crabby. Yet, I’m still happy to be going to Japan.
On to August 4 Journal Entry
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