man, first of all, I was NOT prepared for how long the ride was gonna be!  Man!

When I first got on the plane I lucked out.  I had my section all to myself.  Not only that, but across the isle was the prettiest girl on the plane.  I noticed her earlier, we sat next to her before at the terminal and it looked like she was interested in what we were doing.

I introduced myself to her since we were gonna be neighbors.  She was a very nice girl.  She was mixed, forgot with what.  She was raised on an army base.  She just got into university at Temple, apparently they have a campus in Tokyo.

I asked her all kinds of questions, I’m sure I got on her nerves.  I asked her what it was like, etc.  I asked her what kind of gift would she be bringing back from the states to her friends.  She said colgate.  She told me that the Japanese government considers menthol a drug so they regulate its use.  Sure enough, while I was there it was hard to find peppermint gum and the such.  I asked her about dancing in clubs being illegal.  She said yeah.  She was a part of a flash mob that tried to protest it.  Said it didn’t work out that well because the train was so crowded. She told me to carry ID with me at all times, but not my passport.  Told me a story about how a guy had gotten into a fight and beaten up pretty badly.  Well this american came to help him up and the police arrested him!

She said that she had to go to the bathroom but was scared to go because the fasten seatbelt sign was flashing.  I told her to be bold, do something dangerous, go!  She just buzzed the stewardess and asked her.  It was ok.

Once the plane took off our conversation went in the opposite direction.
It was cool.
I had some movies to watch.

I tried my best to get comfortable.  I watched a movie, I watched some shows, I slept, I conversed with Pete and Nghi.  I looked at the time, I think like four hours passed. The flight was for 13 hours.  Jeez!  It was sooo excruciating.  I tried to lay down, I tried to lean back, I tried to lean to the side.  Finally, I sat up straight, buckled my seat belt and slept for the final few hours.

They fed us well on the flight.  We had more than enough food.  Since the plane was late in leaving they gave us a food voucher but even without that there was more than enough.

Anyway, now I’m at the airport dreading having to do it all over again.  But it was soooo worth it.