Saturday, June 26, 2004

Day 2 at the Tokyo airport

I'm sitting at the Starbucks in the Narita airport. Its similar to the US, but different at the same time. It's interesting. There are 5+ large flat screen TV playing random things all over the walls.
Everyone here is so polite. Not necessarily overly-nice, but polite and helpful. It's interesting to be in the shoes of the foreign traveler that doesn't know what the hell is going on. I've mastered the term "sumimasen" (excuse me) and "gomen nasai" (I'm sorry) since I keep getting in everyone's way by wandering around trying to figure out where I am and where I need to go. I also say "domo arigato" (Thank you) quite a bit. It seems to make people help me more. :)
Last night I opted for whisky and soda from the vending machine instead of beer. Heaven on earth... liquor from a vending machine!!! It knocked me on my ass. I tried to work on my presentation and passed out. I woke up a bit later and just went to bed. I kept waking up in a terrified panic though... thinking I missed my flight. Each time I checked my ticket to make sure the time was 10:30 AM not 10:30 PM. It made for a restless night. It was really great to have that time to rest and be alone though. I'm gearing up for another day of travel. I've been up since 5am, got to the airport at 7:30am and I arrive in Okinawa at 3:30pm.
I like it here (Japan). I'd really like to come back when I have time to sightsee. I think I'm going to take a recreational class in learning to speak Japanese when I get back to Tech.
stay tuned....