Sunday, December 12, 2010
Breakfast at home: 2-egg sandwich with grated cheddar cheese. Finished packing. Drew and Romy arrived to take me to the airport. I gave them a dozen eggs. They were amazed at how little I packed—one backpack and one carry-on-sized bag, neither was full. We drove to SFO, they dropped me off. Japan Airlines San Francisco to Haneda, scheduled flight time 11 hours 30 minutes. For some reason I had thought I was flying in to Narita and did not realize I was flying into Haneda until January 11. Declined the offered $250 upgrade to economy premium. Snack at SFO at Amora: tuna sandwich, sparkling mineral water, about $11. Flight amenities: multilingual on-demand video, audio channels, video games, personal 7-inch displays built in to each seat. I watched Inception, Despicable Me. Couldn't get past the first 2 minutes or so of Sorcerer's Apprentice—too cheesy. Dinner was served once we got to cruising altitude. Hot towel service preceded. Choice of vegetable curry (a little spicy, she said when I asked) or egg noodles with chicken and vegetables, I chose the latter. Side salad with bacon bits and croutons. Side of cold noodle salad. Dinner roll with butter. Dessert: small fruit bread. Can of Asahi (no extra charge!). After dinner: bottled water. Removed my contact lenses in the bathroom. Napped. Watched the "sun" rise—that trick they do of gradually increasing the cabin brightness to simulate a sunrise. Breakfast (or is this brunch?): penne with salmon, nonfat strawberry yogurt, side of green salad with lowfat ranch dressing, dinner roll with butter, tomato juice. Read about Japan on the display. Am interested in learning more about kaiseki ryori which I've never had before. The airline food seems much healthier than I find on airlines and trains when I travel in the United States. Silverware, not plasticware. I forgot to mention: no charge for headphones. The seat seemed like it was heated and I couldn't find a way to turn it off so I was slightly too warm for the entire flight. Tokyo Haneda International Airport, 2-hour layover. Walked a bit through the terminal and browsed in some of the shops. Most of them were a who's who of high-end designers and were uninteresting to me. The terminal was unusually humid for an air-conditioned environment. Rested. Boarded Japan Airlines from Narita (Tokyo) to Bangkok.