Home again

Of course it had to happen...

I left my laptop in Chris's van. I had loaded it in the back, then we jumped out at the train station. Everyone grabbed bags and somehow the laptop went unnoticed. So, Chris has to mail it to me :( Fortunately, it's my spare! It was sure nice having it with me in Japan. Chris, Kiyomi, "Papa" and the kids were fantastic hosts and tour guides. They spoiled us and made sure we got the real Japanese experience; not the tourist version. Perfect! Oh, and for the return trip, Kiyomi packed a great lunch and treats for the train and plane, including salmon rice balls (yum!), Japanese pastries (much better than ours here), drinks (I found a cool lemon water over there), and plenty of chocolate to get us through the long flight and train rides. They also gave me a cool doll with traditional Japanese kimono and hats like they use in the parade I'm missing. And, her dad gave me gifts and treats too. See what I mean about spoiled?

The trip home was fine, though much more hassle since there was a stop in LAX. That airport is a zoo! It's always under construction and just has a weird feel. I guess I'm spoiled by the SLC airport, and of course Tokyo was very nice too.

After experiencing the universal "niceness" and manners of the Japanese, it was a bit of a culture shock to land back in the USA. Customs & immigration agent was totally deadpan, said very little; no greeting or "welcome back to the states". So different that what we experienced the past week. One guy on the exit door from immigration here actually smiled and said "have a good day." In Japan, they were almost universally that way. You wouldn't think it would be that tough to add a little courtesy and it certainly makes it nicer for everyone. We've become so accustomed to the rude, self-centered attitudes of so many people we hardly notice. After being somewhere else, you can really see the contrast. The Koreans were not like the Japanese that way and Korean Air was fine for the return but since it was a flight from Seoul, stopping in Tokyo (to pick us up) and then on to LAX, there were lots of Korean passengers. The difference was remarkable.

I did like Korean Air's uniforms and colors. It's a perfect uniform for the petite Korean attendants. They also offered a nice comfort kit with soft socks, passport holder, toothbrush and eye mask. I did eat the traditional Korean dinner (pretty good) but I passed on rice porridge for breakfast.
The good part about the stop in LAX was the outside moderate temperature without the humidity we've been enduring in Japan. Of course Delta feels like "home"...

I hope they keep the Delta direct SLC to Narita because that sure made travel to Japan smooth. I would definitely recommend it! I'll post more photos soon but for now I've been up for 32 hours or so (except for a few short sitting naps) and need to hit the hay. One example. A Korean woman sitting behind me woke me when I was trying to sleep to tell me to put my seat in the upright position (as if there were any other). It turned out she needed more room to apply her makeup in flight! Priority # 1 I guess.

Anyway, back in the old U.S. of A - for better or worse. Hate to see vacation end but looking forward to sleeping in my bed tonight.