June 30th and July 1st

We were all packed. The cats were at Kitty Country and the driver, who had arrived 15 minutes early, was waiting outside our house. It was a little more of a surprise that he was already out front for Chris, who thought that we were being picked up at 3 p.m., not 2:30 p.m. Unfortunately, I had to pack more this year than I had the previous year. I had my big suitcase, my small carry-on size bag, a hanging bag of our dress clothes and Chris’ large rolling duffle bag. So in total we had four pieces of luggage to check and we each had our LARGE backpacks as our carry-on. I was already dreading how I was going to pack for Japan, knowing I will be personally moving my luggage from hotel to hotel for two weeks.

The ride to the airport was quick. Once we were there we waited for everyone else to arrive so that we could check-in. I saw a large party bus pull up out front and Tina helpping to direct the luggage. Angela appeared to be on the bus, but I did not see everyone else. Chris was just about to go outside and help direct them to where we were waiting. He commented on how he didn’t see Brad or Brian. Then from the other end of the terminal I saw them walking our way with Kirsten in hand. The bus had originally been “ordered” when Samantha and Lauren were coming on the trip as well. Even though the situation had changed, they elected not to confuse matters and kept the original transportation. However, a problem arose when the bus arrived and it didn’t have seat belts to use for the car seat. So someone had to drive a car with Kirsten in the car seat, while the luggage and everyone else took the bus.

The luggage in the double digits was unloaded off the bus. Even with all the bags and people, check-in went fairly smoothly and we were quickly on our way through security to wait in the lounge area. I really can’t complain that the lounge was full, considering I could have been sitting at the waiting area of the gate, but it was packed. Our group was spaced out, but the free snacks and comfy chairs were nice since we had at least an hour before we could board the plane.

Once again, we had all been upgraded to Business Class and were able to board the plane first. There had been some craziness in the seating arrangements, leaving everyone spaced throughout the cabin. After switching around of tickets and seating we were finally settled in our spots. Chris had the window seat next to me, Brad was across the aisle, Tina and Brian were two rows up and Angela and Kirsten were across from them.

Our flight departed on time and we were able to watch the plane liftoff with a video feed from cameras below and at the front of the plane. The seating was slightly different from the cubes we were in last year, but the seats did reach a position where you could lay down. They offered a pretty large selection of movies to watch. Chris gave my birthday present to me early – a Nintendo DS. So I played games instead of watching a movie. All in all, the flight was uneventful. We had our dinner with a pre-dinner glass of wine. After dinner we had a glass of port and then coffee with a shot of liquor (if you pleased).

At this point they dimmed the cabin lights so we could sleep. They had given us ear plugs and eye masks, along with our pillows and a blanket, but I couldn’t fall asleep. Even though the chair reclined, my legs were still lower than the rest of my body. Even not using the blanket I still felt hot. I know that several of the others in our group did get some sleep, but for Chris and I both there was no real sleep.

An hour or so before we were to land the cabin lights were turned back on and breakfast service began. Shortly after we had boarded the plane, the attendants had asked each passenger if he/she wanted to be woken up for breakfast. Not sure when our next chance to eat was going to be, I elected yes for breakfast.