Day 2 - The Longest Day, pt. 1

I get up at 7:00 (10:00 EST), grab a shower, and head down to breakfast. A nice buffet spread at the Sheraton including all of the items you would expect - eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, fruit, juices, etc. No french toast though! I wonder if they serve French toast in Japan? Hmmmm.....

I wait in the hotel lobby at 8:40 and catch the shuttle to the airport at 9:00 (we have been strongly encouraged to not be "the person" in the group who shows up late and holds everyone up). I still haven't had internet access so I apologize for the delay in posting. I'm sitting in the airport now and figured that I would have access here but no luck! Checking in went very easy although we did have a long walk through the terminal to get to our gate. Here's a unique vending machine on the way to my gate...

Motorola phones for sale in a vending machine? Next to this were the iPods...

I arrive at my gate and realize the airplane we are riding on is mammoth! I guess my seat assignment of 54E should have given it away. We begin boarding at 10:48 and don't take off until 11:33. That should tell you another thing about the size...Here it is!

I'll probably get to view about 4 movies on this flight...I went and bought "The DaVinci Code" at a bookstore just in case they show any more Meryl Streep movies...I'm getting ready to board so I'll update later! Here's our group shot of 120 getting ready to board...

They are not all going on the trip, but a bunch of them are!

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So, this plane is rather large (B 747-400)...There are stairs to go up but I have no idea where they lead. The plane holds 10 people in each row (3-4-3) with 2 aisles on either side of the middle section. My seat is in.....(insert drum roll here)...the middle of the middle section! Ah, life is so predictable! Here are pics of the plane and my seat....

It even had an upstairs!	Once again, do you see the similarities of the view from my seat?
Here's Daddy! :)	As we start to fly, we get updates about our progress... I'll post them throughout this trip..

I'm sitting next to Nimo (actually Nimota but that is a different story) and JFMFer Bob Shaffer. Nimo owns his own sushi bar in Ft. Collins, Colorado (called Nimo's Sushi Bar!) and is visiting family for the first time in 4 1/2 years. Bob is sitting next to Yoshii who is a businessman in San Francisco and on a business trip. It hasn't been too bad of a trip to this point but I'm only 1 hour into the trip.

The first movie shown was Poseidon....Let's see if this makes sense - we are watching a movie about people who are struggling to escape from a ship in the middle of the ocean. Is this really appropriate considering we are flying over the Pacific? Might as well show some video of planes crashing into water! Might as well show "Snakes on a Plane" or better yet "Teachers on a Plane"! That'll scare off a bunch of people!

My first drink arrives at 12:35 (Diet Coke) along with a package of "Savory Snack Mix"! (In case you are wondering, it is a premium blend of pretzels, BBQ corn sticks, and garlic and onion soy nuts). Service has been good too! Right before I begin to eat, I am delivered a warm wipe by the flight attendant. Very nice! I'm not sure he wanted his picture taken though...I took it anyways...

Why are you taking my picture?

Lunch (or is it dinner? I have no clue since my body doesn't know what time of day it is) was just delivered at 1:20. I got to select between chicken and rice (which I had last night) or meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I went with the meatloaf but it actually reminded me of a Salisbury steak microwave dinner.

Peas! I hate peas!

Another interesting point...beer and liquor are free on international flights! I found this out after Nimo got his second gin and tonic. Now, I can see my students thinking that this is great except for the fact that you have to be of legal age to get it. Trust me, I tried to have the little kid in the next row get me something and he got rejected! It's probably a good thing I didn't get any because then I'd be ticking off Nemo by making continuous bathroom trips over him.

In between movies we get video updates of our progress. Still interested in finding out how long of a flight it is? Well, right now I believe it is 11 HOURS! I'll post the video progress of our trip throughout this page.

The second movie (currently showing now) is X-Men. It's like deja vu all over again. I decided to watch it in Japanese but started to get a headache. The good thing about X-Men is that you could probably keep track of what is going on in the movie even in Japanese. Not exactly the most difficult to follow....Nimo is now slumped over sleeping (or passed out). I don't think he is a big fan of X-Men...

I hope you don't mind the detailed comments about everything on my trip. I really want everyone to experience how I see it in my head (it is a scary, dark place in there). My goal is to give you enough details so you can really feel as if you are on a virtual field trip.

Look how cold it is outside! Also, note the different units between the screens. Who says you don't need math?

To be continued....go to day 3!