Far East Cynic

Tadaima!

That`s what you say when you return home in Japan-coming in the door to let the S.O. know that you are home.

So I`m letting Japan know I`m back even if it is just for a week.

Trip over was OK. We flew out to LAX,  then the next day took Singapore Airlines to Japan. We were in the back in the cattle car-and the cattle car is the cattle car, no matter what airline you take-but Singapore makes the experience a lot more tolerable than most. Food was good, drinks were free-and each seat had lots of TV to watch. The girls working the economy section were working pretty hard-and they did not forget about us after dinner was done. The SQ-11 flight is a pretty good bargain if you book your tickets early enough-as we did (booked them two months ago).

Visiting the S.O.`s sister for a couple of days then branching out to see old friends-as  many as we can cram into eight days. They have a “guest room” ( apartment really)-that is located in their apartment building. Its pretty nice.

Woke up this AM and went for a run. Found the bike path by the river and ran down aways and back-all the while soaking in all the great things about Tokyo, the sights, the sounds, the buildings and most of all the people. Pix are coming.

God, its so good to be back! I miss this place!

  1. I’m genuinely curious about one extremely minor point. I can’t recall the last time I flew trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific in economy. And if my memory is correct, you’re taller than I am. So sitting in economy from L.A. to Tokyo, that’s somewhere between 12 and 15 hours. How did you manage it in those tiny seats? Could you sleep?

    I know, these are dumb questions but given new budgetary constraints, I may be doing things this way as well very soon.

  2. I am 5′ 11″. Fortunately I had an aisle seat and the Singapore seats recline a little. That said- I did not sleep so much. I tried but I just could not get really comfortable enough to sleep. But I was able to watch lots of movies and read.

    One good thing about the flight is the time. It leaves 1445 LAX time and arrives at 1730 TYO time. Probably not so good if trying to make a connection.

    But business class was just out of the question and I could not get an upgrade through Star Alliance.

  3. Hmm – pity SQ don’t use their Airbus 380’s on the route. They do from Singapore to Tokyo, and I flew cattle class UPSTAIRS – seats arranged 2 x 3 x 2 (or maybe 2 x 4 x 2). Wha what difference — also came complete with USB charging point for ya ipod etc. Pity I flew back in a crappy 747-300 –> no competition.