In the air to Hiroshima

I'm on my way to Hiroshima! I left Seattle at 12:30pm pacific time (or 5:30am Japan time). I have now been traveling for nearly 13 hours, and I have about 2 more to go before I get to the hotel. The flight from Seattle to Tokyo was long, over 10 hours. I didn't sleep, but kept busy with a movie, reading, music, eating, and playing solitaire on my phone. All in all, not a bad flight. The landing in Tokyo was very bumpy, with lots of side-to-side and up-and-down motion, but our pilot brought us down very gently. Once off the plane, I quickly realized how weird it would be being in Japan without knowing Japanese. Signs had English, but were still a bit confusing. The airport staff spoke English, but communication was still a bit rough. I needed to get a new boarding pass for my connection to Hiroshima, and there was a long line. Then I had to go through security again, and there was another long line, worse than the first. I was nervous I would miss my flight, but I made it through with about 15 minutes to spare before they started boarding. Boarding involved taking a bus to our regional jet, but it was cool to drive by all the giant planes. (By the way, our 777 to Tokyo was huge! I love those giant planes).

While waiting to board, I was able to connect to free wifi at the airport, so I emailed Katie to let her know I was on track. It is really weird being unable to communicate with her and trying to meet up in Hiroshima (she is going to meet me at the bus center). I'm so used to being able to use my cell phone, but that's not an option. Being effectively cell phoneless just enhances the feeling of being unable to communicate, but it is also part of the adventure. Now that I'm on my plane to Hiroshima, I'm feeling pretty relaxed. Very tired of course (it's 1:30AM my time), but relaxed. I'm ready for our adventure. Welcome to Japan!

(Note: Katie took that photo of Mt. Fuji from her plane to Hiroshima.)