Japan Trip: Blog 11

We are currently over southern Washington State/Northern Oregon at 37,000 feet. We've endured 7 hours in coach. Not comfortable in the slightest.

I've dozed in and out a few times. Never more than 20 minutes of sleep at a time. Kelli hasn't done anywhere near as good. What a stark contrast to the flight here.

There are about 3 hours left. Once we land and clear customs, the plan is to head home for a nap, wash clothes, shower an then head back to the airport for a flight to Newark. We are listed for First Class…who knows if we will get it.

Tokyo was the first time for both of us to be out of the country. Sure we have been to Canada, Mexico, The Bahamas, Oregon….but I don't feel they count. We could easily communicate in Canada and The Bahamas. I know enough Spanish to get by in Mexico. Tokyo was a whole different country!

A good amount knew a bit of English. Some none at all. We knew no Japanese beyond Domioragto Mr. Roboto. Yeah.

I really fell in love with Tokyo. The city is clean and full of culture. It practically oozes culture.

Everyone knows I am a bit of a germ-a-phob. Not compare to the Japanese though. We quickly got use to seeing people in mask. The cleanliness of the city though was crazy.

The city cleaners don't just blow the leaves away. They scoop them all up. We passed a building worker shining the building fire hydrants. Everything is clean. As much as they smoked, we NEVER saw a cigarette butt on the sidewalk. Never a can smashed on the ground. Never a wrapper smashed into the pavement. Nothing.

Over the two years I have been at my airline I have visited (from memory)

Washington D.C (3x), Las Vegas (5X), New York (3X), Portland (2X), Detroit, Toronto, Canada, Chicago (2X), New Orleans, St Louis, Atlanta, Cabo San Lucas, Nassau, Monterrey, San Francisco , Sacramento (4X), San Diego, Houston (5X), Denver, Jacksonville, FL, Minneapolis.

None of them affected me as much as Tokyo. I never wanted to move to any of those cities. I want to move to Tokyo. Of course this won't happen anytime soon. But if it did I'd love it.

I really hope to go back within a year or so. One thing about our offspring…they will be very well traveled.