"The Japanese really know how to treat you right!"

Wednesday~Thursday "The Japanese really know how to treat you right!"

Yesterday marked firsts of many things...my first time away from the East Coast, my first time to Chicago, my first time taking a plane ride, and my first time in Japan.

BWI
As soon as I got into BWI my adventure began quite interestingly. I went to check in my bag and get my boarding passes and was almost confused with another Griffin who was going to somewhere in Spain or something! I almost choked when the guard asked me how old I was at security...anyway I watched my things get Xrayed and my scissors get measured (they made it through BWI and ORD security) and I was on my way to a relatively short wait at the gate! I felt safe because there were two air force men (I think) who were on my same flight. When the plane arrived I noticed it was quite small. Keep in mind, at this point everything was happening so fast and so well it felt like a dream or a movie about someone else...it still hadn't quite settled in that I was actually doing all this. So let me tell you something...I like flying...a lot! Having that air cushion you from below is quite the sensation. But this is the coolest part...I look out the window at some point and it was like someone forgot to paint the background! I was completely surrounded by white!!! I could see the wing but beyond that...white!!! After a roller coaster like plane ride (not in a bad way) I turned to the older gentleman who was next to me and told him how honored I was to share my first flight ever with him and he told me that I should've said that to begin with and he would've engaged me more!

ORD
ORD...is huge!!! Out of the three airports involved in the trip...it's the biggest! This part of the adventure was relatively uneventful besides almost getting lost looking for my gate while trying to avoid leaving the secure areas. So I get to my gate and the plane waiting for me is simply huge!

JAL
I get on and young guy sits next to me...he was going to Australia (he's the originator of the quote that became this post's title). I didn't realize that a 12 hour flight is 4 times longer than a 3 hour flight...it sounds simple but it was long...but there were in-flight movies. There was 21, Horton Sees a Who, some movie starring Keanou(sp?) Reeves and Hugh Laurie(sp?) playing cops, a PGA tour feat. Tiger Woods, 2~3 Japanese movies, a Korean movie, and footage of a Japanese game show (all of which could be viewed in Japanese or their original language) as well as music and mini games. There was free food, blankets and pillows, and very pretty flight attendants. So we flew over Canada and Alaska to save time...and there were points where the pilot or a flight attendant turned off the lights to suggest it was time to take a nap (which I failed at) but what I didn't realize is why those periods were chosen. So normally (when the lights are on) you can look through the window, but when the lights are off they ask that you close your window. I noticed someone sneak a peek and I decided to do the same...and was blinded!!! Last time there was no background...this time the background was emitting it's own light! The sun was reflecting off the clouds or the snow or something but it was simply too bright! We land normally and life was good...really good!

NRT (the fun begins)
So I had to go through immigration and customs...which didn't take long though it was kind of confusing. But when I got out...oh when I got out...there were Japanese people everywhere! Which would be expected but at this point I still felt like I was in some weird part of America (I've never left the country remember and it still hasn't quite sunken in). But anyway, definitely the most energetic and suspenseful part of the day...ok Japanese money is in yen and you can think of one yen being a penny...kind of. Anyway I needed a ticket, which costs about 2500 yen or 25 dollars, to meet Ryan, my friend, so I went to the atm and took out 50000 yen or 500 dollars. I went to by my ticket and had a feeling something was wrong. For an instant (and that was enough) I thought I had taken out 500000 yen (5000 dollars)! I panicked and went around asking different help desks about what I should do to return the 4000 USD I didn't actually have in the bank! No one could help me since you can make deposits to foreign banks (or to any bank with the atm's at the airport) so I decided to convert the money to USD, notify SECU of the mistake, pray that they have my back, hang on to it, and return it when I get back. Good thing I decided to do that because when I went to convert it the guy says, "So you want to take yen to American dollars? ok...*turns his calculator towards me* is this about right?" I look up from my feet...$410...410 dollars!?! "I have 400 dollars!", I thought and shouted at the same time...I didn't overdraw!!! I was so relieved! I grabbed the money, thanked everyone who helped me, got my rental cell phone, waited for the bus, and went to meet Ryan...and life was good.

So everything considered...I had a good first day...and there will be more to come!