If this had been a trip to Florida, this post wouldn't exist. Traveling twelve time zones really feels different. The first leg took me from DTW in Michigan direct to Tokyo (NRT). I sat in seat 1A on a Boeing 747 -- what a trip that was just in itself. I was served three excellent meals, and a glass of port whenever I felt like having one, which was about five times, give or take.
After watching Beth and her melatonin supplements endure about ten days of jet-lag when she came home after her 'look-see' trip in December, I decided to begin implementation of my own strategy for avoiding this. The strategy is simple in concept: stay awake when it's light - sleep when it's dark. Generally.
The flight from Detroit to Tokyo was 13 hours. It was light outside the entire time (noon take-off in the US, traveling west, landing at 4pm local Japan time) I stayed awake the entire time. I also watched three movies with noise-blocking headphones, which kept me from hearing the snoring fat guy next to me.
Narita Airport was nice, quiet, and very comfortable. I was only there for about two hours, but my sister asked me to take some random photos for her Pokemon-crazed sons. So....
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| I'm pretty sure this is good news about my connecting flight |
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| No delay - good news indeed |
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| I'm glad I didn't need to do this |
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| Two useful places |
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| Crowded - good ramen |
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| OK! |
After about two hours at NRT airport in Tokyo, I boarded another plane and sat in seat 1A again. This was a seven hour 'hop' to Bangkok. At some point after dinner, my body took over and forced me to sleep about 2-3 hours. That was ok, because it was dark outside. By the time I landed in Bangkok, it was about midnight. My cab got me to our apt by about 1am, and there was *Beth* waiting in the lobby! We giggled like teenagers -- it was so great!! She looked just as I remembered! (Ok, it was only a month, but still...)
I slept through the night like the dead. Good thing, because Beth had her own plans of forcing me to immediately stick to the local clock...
