Getting there is half the battle

I'm in bed in a hotel in Asakusabashi. In Tokyo. In Japan. When the hell did this happen? It still hasn't fully sunk in yet that we're actually here. To be fair nothing really penetrates the 12-hour mid-day plane ride other than "I need to be horizontal ASAP". 

Just imagine this x12.

The ride itself was far, far better than my anxiety-riddled mind had built it up to be. A sorely needed preface to this entire blog: I have never been abroad before. I've never been much of anywhere before, actually. If my travel experience were to be summed up as one trip, it would be a 1.5 hour journey on Southwest. All peanuts, no pretzels. So imagine my surprise when JAL took my hand with a gentle pat and showed me what leg room looked like. Shining, shimmering, splendid. Maybe not so much splendid as surprisingly tolerable. Hamu said my insistence upon taking JAL has ruined her for life. 12 hours, 5 movies, 2 meals, and many failed attempts at sleep later, we landed at Narita. 

After a trip to check out what manner of robots lived in Japanese restrooms—no robots, but hey, rest of the world? I see what you're all on about with our weird toilet half doors—we dragged ourselves through Immigration, Customs, and the obligatory pocket wifi and JR pass pickup. All of this culminated in the crown jewel of travel: figuring out how the hell we get to our hotel. Because horizontal, now, please. I could immediately tell this trip was going to be nothing but pay back for my many hours playing "Spot the Tourist" growing up. Neither of us are country bumpkins, mass transit is still our preferred method of getting around San Francisco, but really that's just adorable in comparison to the three-headed hydra of Tokyo. 

Praise be to technology, because somehow we fumbled our way through with a combination of Google Maps and "fuck it!" If polygamy was legal, or marrying non-humans for that matter, I would have swept the disembodied English voice giving transfer instructions off its proverbial feet. We hopped on the Keisei line, swapped at Aoto, and dragged our miserable heaps of flesh off at Asakusabashi 1 hour and somethingsomething minutes later. I still don't know how that happened. Somehow we made it.

Sleep first, Akihabara tomorrow.  

-Usagi

Yay airports! (But no, the waiting!)

View from the 11th Floor of the Crowne Hotel

We got a hotel near LAX so we didn't have to worry about the dreaded traffic in the morning. It was a 4 minute drive from the hotel to the LAX Economy Parking Lot C so it was well worth it. Note: The hotel does not have it's own parking lot, so you'll have to pay for parking. Parking cost us about $15 and change. 

We sadly skipped the famous Halloween Party thrown by Aaron and Tad because we're weak scrubs. No, really, we fell asleep around 9PM. It looks like everyone had loads of fun. We're bummed we missed meeting Skoddie's fiancé who she dragged down from Berkeley for the event. But that's okay, we'll get another opportunity in the future (there might be another litter of puppies soon!). 

The Mishaps (aka The Oh Noes!)
As expected, the parking lot was full, so we figured we'd be parking way in the back. I was stubborn so I drove around and found an open spot near the front entrance! Usagi said I got bonus points since it's next to a mini and very close to a shuttle stop. So what's the mishap?

Well... I left my phone in the car. [My feelings summized: (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ ]
As I parked the car, a shuttle bus passed by. We then began unloading our bags and then another bus came by. The bus driver noticed us, waved us over, and stopped her bus for boarding. We hurriedly got our bags out and got on the bus. A few aisles down, I noticed I didn't have my phone on me. So we get out of the bus, apologized to the shuttle driver (though she seems to be a lot more sympathetic) and made our way back to our car. We had to use my key fob and Usagi's super power: super sonic hearing to find our way.

The Good Stuff
Since we got to the airport early, there was barely a line! After being a little disoriented on where to go after the shuttle dropped us off, a lovely woman at the information desk gave us directions.  

The best part of arriving early was missing the giant TSA line. It showed up 20 minutes after we got there. TSA checkout went smoothly. The personnel were one of the friendliest and most efficient ones we have ever encountered. They were also very jolly and jovial - probably because it's early into their shift. 

Small bags, check! 

We decided to check-in our carry-on bags since we're weak scrubs (see reference above). The JAL counter did not open until 9:30AM so we stood around in line to wait. Right before they opened, the staff got together and greeted everyone in line: お早うございます [Good Morning]! Despite taking numerous classes and reading cultural books, we both completely forgot about this cultural norm! Needless to say, it just excited us more for our trip.

DUN DUN DUN!

The Waiting Game
Now we wait to board our flight. 

SO EXCITED! ⤴︎ ε=ε=(ง ˃̶͈̀ᗨ˂̶͈́)۶ ⤴︎
 

-Hamu