Mid-air

Through the course of my flight, I was trying to keep on schedule with Japan's time so my jetlag would not be too severe. After staying awake for the first 45 minutes, I decided to get some shut eye.

A few things happened in those first 45 minutes that I had never experienced though. For starters there is a camera on the nose of the plane and the take off is shown live. As you're taxiing down the runway at full speed the whole thing is shown on the flat screen tv in the cabin. It freaked me out just slightly. The whole thing reminded me of a highspeed chase as shown from a policeman's mounted camera in his car. When I looked out my window I didn't get scared in the least - just when I looked at the tv screen.

After the take off, the stewardesses were quick to serve. They started out by handed out hot wet cloths. (This was another first for me.) I watched the people around me to know what I was suppose to do. Everyone wiped their hands and faces -- ohhhh! I figured, they must do this before they eat. Sure enough. After they picked up the used cloths, they started passing out drinks and snacks. I went to sleep though. Mainly b/c I saw the juice boxes did not have any English labeling, so I knew I probably wouldn't want any. Plus, I hadn't gotten sick yet, and I didn't want to start.

When I woke up, the lady beside me had more than just crackers and juice. She had a whole tray with emptied containers. I had slept through the whole meal!! :O I was shocked. I quickly checked to make sure I had all my carry-ons and that my passport and such were still in my possession. Whew! Everything was still intact. I looked at my watch, and I had slept for 2 (TWO) hours! :O Wow! I didn't think I would really sleep at all on the plane.

I stayed awake for about an hour after that. In that time I talked a little with the lady beside me. Her name was Eiko (I pronounced it Ako). I found out she was on her way to her mom's surprise 90th birthday party! Her home was right outside of Tokyo. Ako was raised in Japan, but now lives in the states. She teaches Judo and goes to competitions all over the world.

After talking with her, I fell back asleep for another hour or so. And a little while later they served dinner. Dinner was served early b/c they were expecting turbulance. Below was my meal.
As you can see.....I ate every last bite!! ;P That McDonald's breakfast obviously wore off! ;P

After the meal, there was some slight turbulance, but nothing major. I fell asleep again....WOW! I really can sleep anywhere! ;P ha ha. When I woke up, I was being told due to a typhoon we could not land at Narita Intl. Airport (in sothern Tokyo). Instead they were going to fly to Hanieda and land for fuel.

My plans were to fly from Chicago to Narita, then take a bus to the Hanieda airport and from there fly to Misawa! I was suppose to be seeing Nathan at 6:45p.m. Japan time, so even though my flight left at 11:30 in the morning - central standard time, my journey was going to take about 17 hours!

I thought in my head, "oh this is not good". But tried not to worry about it. Then people started to get sick, and everyone was tired and a bit edgey. I really wasn't feeling entirely at peace. I felt so close, yet so far away from my destination. I thought, "why can't they just let me off the plane here!? My next ticket flies me fromt this airport to Misawa, can't I just get off and wait inside for my next flight?" The answer was a big fat no, b/c the Hanieda airport does not have immigration, which is something I obviously have to go through! :( *sniff* So I got out my cam-corder and journaled a little, and then after 2 hours of waiting on the plane....what else was there to do...except sleep...so that's what I did!This is what it looked like outside my plane window as we sat at the Hanieda airport.

I was awakened suddenly by the sound of engines. We were in the middle of take off when I woke up. Yeah, somehow I slept through the announcement saying, "Please prepare for take-off!" My seatbelt was alredy on, so no big deal. I have learned from this trip that I am a heavier sleeper than what I originally thought.