International Flying

I am currently in Japan!  After 28 hours of travel, I arrived at Rikkyo University quite exhausted.  I hadn't expected flying internationally to be so much different than flying in the U.S.  I suppose that only speaks for my naivete.  The first thing one notices is the sheer size of the plane from the outside.  While in the airport you can see the planes coming and going...but the international planes are barely able to be fully seen from the window.  They tower over every other plane both in hight and diameter.  As soon as I entered the plane, the first thing I said was, "It has stairs!"  And it did.  business class got to go up said stairs and enjoy much more comfortable commodities than the 500 people sitting below them.  As I walked down the aisle to find row 60 (the 2nd to last row), I estimated the length of the plane to be at least twice that of a normal one.  It just kept going on and on and on...!  Kayla, who sat next to me, said, "How is this thing going to get off the ground?"  This was probably the thought on most of our minds. 

A am generally a fairly adaptable person, so the uncomfortableness didn't bother me that much.  But the flight was just that--uncomfortable.  I kept imagining my dad shaking his head at the meals they provided us with (dinner consisted of beef and potatoes that came in a dish 1/2 the size of a regular microwave meal.  In a container 1/2 THAT size was a salad, and next to that was a bun and brownie, each plastic wrapped).  I imagined my mother exclaiming over the amount of turbulence we got in the first 1/4 of our trip.  It was very similar to being on a roller coaster--justlings left to right and bunny hills that turn your stomach over.  As the flight attendants were bringing the after-dinner green tea, the cart rattled and sloshed tea all over the Japanese girl sitting across the aisle from me. 

The other notable discomfort is that no matter how hard you try, whether you have a travel pillow or not, you will not be able to sleep (much) on an airplane.  There is little to no leg room for a person of MY size--only inches are between my knees and the seat in front of me.  It is polite to NOT recline your seat, of course, since that is only taking room away fro the person behind you.  So, you have towo main options--try to sleep sitting straight up, or pull out your tray and put your head down on it--elementary school style.  Neither are ideal for rest.

I have only been in Japan--that is, awake and exploring it, for half a day, so I haven't properly digested the experiences enough to write about where I've been and what I've seen yet, but expect something more extravagant soon.  Internet is sketchy where I am--there is no WiFi, so I have to mooch off of friends' laptops who have ethernet chords.