The Journey East

Terminal time

Airplane!

5 hours in

Where do I sit?

Let's start off. The first leg of the trip was Dulles to Narita - about 8,000 miles and a 12 hour plane trip. I had prepared for weeks about what we'd bring on the plane. Extra clothes for all of us. Snacks, enough to feed us for weeks. Toys. An enormous assortment of toys. In the end, there wasn't too much to worry about, Dek loved flying. What's not to love? He enjoyed the TV, juice in unlimited quantities and he even napped a good 5 hours at the end of the journey. ANA was a great airline to fly and even though we were in economy, I felt that it was a decent experience, until Derek spread across my seat and started sleeping in and warmed me up beyond belief. Note that Japanese airlines keep their cabins warmer than American ones and I found myself sweating even with just 2 layers on.  Dek had a mall making friends with other passengers, using the lavatory and even eating cabin food. His favorite of course was Soba  noodles. I, on the other hand, slept none of the flight and jet lag would soon be hell to pay.