13 Hours of Flying

The night before traveling, my step-dad covered a hotel near the airport for my girlfriend, Mandi, and I so we wouldn't have to drive so far first thing in the morning.  Mandi and I went into Indy proper to have dinner at one of my all time favorite burger places, Kuma's Korner.  I figured if I was going to be out of the country for awhile, it might be my last chance to have a great burger.

Mandi seeing my goofy self off at the airport.  Excited and
anxious.  Couldn't have gotten here without her support along
the way and I already miss her a ton!

The next morning, we got up and she dropped me off at the airport.  I met up with my friend and we started our trip.  Security at Indy wasn't too bad.  They searched me, my bag, all the usual stuff.  Getting through didn't take long, really.  Then storms near Chicago delayed the flight for awhile, making a long day feel longer.  Finally got onto the plane, a tiny little thing, and bounced up to Chicago.  Short flight, up and down in less than an hour.  Got into O'hare with plenty of time to catch the connecting flight.

Then began the fun part.  The plane from Chicago to Tokyo was much bigger, and had all kinds of amenities to help stay entertained and the in-flight food was pretty good.  But no matter how you slice it, it's still 13 hours cramped into a seat on a flying tin can.

Japan Air's inflight meal.  Salmon steak with rice and steamed veggies,
a traditional bento assortment of pickled things, miso soup, and a salad.
The bottle of Sake was also free, and I got the whole thing to myself!

The in-flight entertainment is a lot more advanced these days.  There
was a huge library of recent films as well as classics to choose from.
I watched a comic movie marathon, including catching up on some
more recent ones I'd missed.  (Aside: Superman v. Batman was
just as bad as I had heard.)

So with the amount of time spent in the air, and the direction of flight, we never saw the sun set on August 31st.  The whole time we were flying, the sun never set.  I slept a total of maybe 30 or 40 minutes towards the end of the flight.  When we landed in Tokyo, we caught a subway ride over to the bullet train or しんかんせん (Shinkansen).  Another 2 hours on the train before we reached Nagoya.  Then, a cab ride from the station to the inn, or りょかん (ryokan).  One of the best bits of news I got was a text from my phone company (T-Mobile) telling me that I actually was going to have phone service!  So no need for me to go out of my way or spend additional money getting a temporary phone while I'm over here!  It was a huge relief!

This was the entry way to the traditional Japanese inn we stayed at.
It was owned by an older couple who's son helped run the place.
They were all very friendly and very helpful on our first night
in Japan.  I highly recommend staying in one of these inns if you
get the chance to visit Japan.

  

Once we got up that morning, the family served us a quick breakfast.  It was very small and simple, and was centered on hot green tea, or おちゃ (Ocha).  Then, we caught a cab ride to campus at Nanzan.  It wasn't very long, really, but was a lot easier than trying to fight through more trains with all of our luggage.  Once we got to campus, the ISEP (travel abroad program we're in Japan with) coordinators arranged to have us shown to our rooms.

Next post will probably be a day or two, but will be about the dorm situation!  If anyone is actually reading this and has questions, please feel free to send them along my way.  Best way would be email at Ducktopia@gmail.com  Be sure to put the title of the Blog (SD13 Travels) in the subject line so I know to actually open it.  Hope you've enjoyed reading this far!