Departure/Arrival

I left Boston at 10am Monday and 23 hours later it is 10pm on Tuesday night in Tokyo. It is a very strange feeling to be so exhausted but so awake at the same time. Sitting at the gate in O'Hare, I kept wondering what I was doing there. I was perhaps one of three non-Asian. non-white people there and was wondering if people thought I was confused and that instead of gate M9 I should be sitting gate M10--the Aeromexico gate. But maybe not. I did afterall have an Indian woman approach me an hour ealier at another terminal and start speaking Hindi. Maybe they're just all really confused.

Anyway, it was a VERY long flight, but luckily did not feel the full 11+ hours in the air. The weirdest thing about flying JAL was what was being projected on the big screen. After the cartoon people floated off the plane on those yellow thingies, there was airport footage of some sort. I didn't realize at first, but after a few minutes it hit me that what was being projected on the large screen was actually our plane approaching the runway. It was one of the coolest things to watch the plane take off from the perspective of the pilot (maybe this has been around for a while, but its the first time I've seen it). They have cameras giving you the "birdseye view" and "downward view" and its one of the choices on the personal video screens. It was the same thing landing as well--the screen showed the runway--but this time it was a bit scarier, hoping that nothing would go wrong. So I guess at that point it wasn't as cool as it was initially. And for those who have a fear of flying, this is perhaps the worst idea ever. Although I did enjoy the option of choosing it as my "video".

Another thing about flying to Japan...you know how sometimes people call out something when you're on the border of two states/countries/territories? Well, one of the first times I experienced this was in college. At Cornell, there are no good malls--there's the small Ithaca Commons shops and Pyramid "mall", but to really get to the shops, you have to go to Carousel Mall in Syracuse. On the way from Ithaca to Syracuse, you cross an Indian reservation (it is upstate NY afterall). I remember taking a trip up once and someone calling out "Two Territories"--how often does that happen? Well...how often do I get to say "Two Dates". I am a big fan of tracking thing...like the plane on the screen showing you where you are (yes I am a dork). Anyway, I was WAY excited when we were at the point of the Date Line and I wanted to shout out "Two Dates" but everyone would've thought I was crazy, so instead I just wrote it down in my new little journal. Someone/something had to hear it. And another thing about the tracking thingy...I was watching 8 Below while flying over Alaska (its that movie about the sled dogs that get left behind in the antarctic--ok well, artic/antarctic--same thing!).

All right. now I'm off to sleep...to sleep perchance to dream...ah there's the rub.