I have decided that the ability to load around three hundred squishies into a tin-box-with-wings and transport them safely around the world, without refueling, is highly akin to wizardry. And yet despite this amazing technology, we still can't cure halitosis. I mention that because Jess' and my third-seat-companion had a super bad case of it. Being on a plane for twelve hours is sort of like an experiment in sensory deprivation, and as such you really have no clue how much time is passing or how long you've been there... However, if someone near you blasts you with his rotten breath in a sinusoidal manner, it's something you can sync your internal clock to.
(Side note, apparently you can use a Halimeter to detect your disgustingness rating for the day. I can hear the jingle now: o/~ if your Halimeter is low, then say hal-lo! o/~)
Airplane activities included:
- Kamikaze Girls
- The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension
- Disgusting(in retrospect) airplane food.
- Staring hopelessly at the ETA and map display.
- Putting my shirt over my nose like a third grader to protect myself from Halitosis Man.
- Passing out at random intervals on Jess' shoulder.
After landing, we wormed our way through immigration and customs(they didn't search our bags at all...) and eventually found our way onto the Narita express train to Tokyo. Riding the train into Tokyo took about an hour, and was quite a pleasant trip through the countryside and it's billions of rice fields. Eventually we got off at Shinjuku station, which is massive, and spent half an hour or so in baka-gaijin-clueless-tourist mode as we looked for our hotel. Things are a bit cramped compared to the US, but you get used to it really fast.
Half dead, we went on the prowl for delicious japanese cuisine... and ended up at the McDonalds on the corner, where I had my first conversation with a real live japanese person, in japanese, about how I'd really like to order a fish burger and a chicken burger, and the intricacies of how they're currently out of the cartoon character soda that I ordered. Victorious, we ate all the processed burger we could (which wasn't much, as the chicken burger is apparently disgusting, according to Jess), and promptly passed the hell out.
--Mike
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