Halfway around the world

Japan is far. I know that. And while the flight time from home to Japan is about the same as from home to Southern Africa, there are many more time zones to cross and that leads to cognitive chaos. I am still trying to sort out what day and time it is.

We left Seattle on the 8:30am train. There were delays (I do believe that is the default status of all American transportation systems), so we eventually got in to Vancouver around 2pm. After checking in to our hotel (which was super dated, but clean), we got some coffee and thought about what we wanted to do for dinner. I found a farm-to-table restaurant that had stellar reviews and took the 4:30 reservation that they had available, and I am so glad we did – it was delicious! A quick stop at the grocery store for provisions, and we were off to pack and get ready for the long haul flight.

ZipAir is a subsidiary of Japan Air. A low-cost subsidiary. And that means you get a seat and transport and that is all. It was actually fine – I don’t really need any of the extras, especially given how little we paid for the flight. We took off on time at 10:25am Monday, flew for just under 11 hours, and landed just before noon on Tuesday. Thankfully, we had just enough Wi-Fi to be able to listen and watch the score of the Celtics game, landing just seconds after they WON!

Immigration, customs, a train, and a subway ride later, and we were at our hotel. Anna-Sophia didn’t even pretend – she just went right to bed at 4:00pm local time (3am Boston time, midnight Seattle time – I think). Luke and I did want to eat something for dinner, so we hit the kombini (convenience store).

Japan does convenience stores like NOWHERE else in this world. We got udon noodles, buckwheat soba noodles, a small tray of tuna sushi, and some rice balls, plus 2 beers and a coffee for the morning, all for $15. And it was all really good!