So I departed Tokyo perhaps just in time–the weather had just started to take a rather gloomy twist, dark, cold, and rainy, rather miserable weather. Still, I had a good departure schedule–I got a flight leaving at 7:30 pm, as opposed to one leaving at perhaps 3:00 pm or so, giving me a lot more time to sleep, get ready, and get in to the airport.

At the airport, I was surprised to meet Kate, a teacher at my school, lining up for the same flight; while she was just connecting through San Francisco instead of staying like I am, and had a much better seat way farther up the aisle (despite getting her ticket a month after me and arriving at the airport later–she is, as she pointed out, much cuter than I am), we still were able to chat for some time, a very agreeable way to spend time waiting for the boarding and later the luggage claim.

Unfortunately, the flight could have been better. As is usual with United, the service is very good, but I have a lot of trouble getting to sleep on flights. It also does not help that I always get seated behind someone who, for the entire flight, has their seat reclined all the way back into my face (being disgruntled, I always do a check about the cabin and find that only 20% of people seem to have their seats reclined at any given time–but I always get the 20%), and the lady sitting in the seat next to me was leaning way over the armrest, with her feet put up on top of the seat in front of her. So despite having the aisle seat, I was more than a bit crowded in than is usual even for Economy class.

But I did get here, and that’s the whole point of the exercise, so mission accomplished. I napped for three hours in the afternoon, but am still dead tired and ready to fall asleep at 9:30 PST…. I’ll post pictures later, but I have a nice “room,” so to speak–a kind of mobile-home rig, smallish, that my folks use to travel in. You know, a mini-kitchen, bathroom, not-too-small-bed, all on wheels. This will also serve as a great pre- and post-game vehicle when my father and I go to the 49’ers/Seattle game on the 27th, the last game of the season. But for now, it is a nice little private apartment in the driveway–and I really have to use the bed. More later.