Airports are pretty strange to me. Sure, I've spent plenty of time traveling enough that I know what it's like to sit for hours and hours next to complete strangers who usually overpack. Seriously, get your damn carry ons (that feel like they're as big as the bag I checked) from out my space. My ankle is here, not your shit. The suspended-reality-world that airports operate in has always been slightly eerie for me. The little shops are always the same, the employees here are all wearing their fake smiles to hide exhaustion or boredom, and nobody seems happy at all to see me. So, to combat these ho-hum sentiments, I often am much nicer at the airport than I am in real life: greeting the employees with a smile and questions about how their day is going, smiling at the little foreign toddlers teetering around the gate before the flight... things like that. (As I wrote that sentence, a small middle eastern boy just ran by with a monkey backpacked strapped to his front while his sister gave me a bashful grin)
I heard sandwiches are supposed to be $7 for ham and cheese. Just because I can't take any liquids past security doesn't mean you should charge me $3 for water, you pricks. Hurrr. Also, I'm pretty sure I'm only going to be getting one meal for the entire flight, which is fine I guess. Yet everyone complains about airports and airplanes, so maybe I'll just hold off.
2 hours until my flight, so I think I'll just read or work on my novel for now. 'Bout to save this ish and then re-edit with the rest of my first day's experience once I (hopefully) get to my hostel and situated.
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The flight turned out to be 10 hours which meant time for 3 movies provided by the airline which included Date Night, The Bounty Hunter, and Alice in Wonderland of which I watched the first and last. As much as I love Gerard Butler, it seemed pointless to even try and occupy myself with that steaming poopile that I instead got some shuteye.
Sleeping on a plane, to me, isn't really sleeping. I kept having short, very frantic dreams all involving air travel and all being so odd that I ended up waking up nearly every 10 minutes. It's no way to rest but I supppose it'll have to do for now until I can actually check into somewhere with a bed; something that'll prove more difficult than I first thought.
I had originally arranged to stay Monday the 16th and Tuesday the 17th at a hostel called Meigetsu, but it turns out I got my date of arrival wrong. I gain a day coming back, not going to, so I've missed my check in date like a true 'tard. How could've I been so dense? Sometimes I question whether my mind is already going since my memory, too, often leaves me. Just ask my girlfriend how often I forget certain arrangements or misremember which days she'll be busy.
In any case, here I sit on the plane with 4 more hours to go. The guy in front of me has lovingly reclined his seat which makes it very hard to type at all, and the screen is at a strange angle. Coach is hella tight. I could watch A Single Man which I got just for this ride, but then again, I couldn't see it very well unless homeboy up there decides he wants to sit straight up. Tata for now, time to occupy myself with something other than this.. wish I'd copied over all my book documents.
Quick thoughts on the films:
Date Night: It's intended to be a fun date movie, so it's aptly named. However, it's not funny at all, and often fails completely at what they're going for. Luckily, it quips along decently, and there was that good Heat reference.
Alice in Wonderland: The cast here is so star-studded, not to mention Tim Burton's direction, that this shouldn't have been as poor as it was. Yes, I understand the need to make the film appeal to children, but this was just ridiculous. Anne Hathaway was terrible, Johnny Depp did the most with what he was given and it often felt like his movie. The only time I was enjoying myself was when Tweedledee and Tweedledumb were on screen, both played by a favorite british comedian of mine named... yeah. I'd skip it and stick to the original unless you really like cringing.
Ooh, they've just put on Whip It
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Which turned out to be kind of a drag. I'm all for a movie whose focus is all about girl power, but when it's executed poorly I'm just... sad about how much better it could've been. That being said, it was a much better way to kill a little while than Alice in Wonderland was.
Finishing up the flight got harder and harder as I started to smell worse and worse. We eventually landed at Narita Int'l where I spent some time trying to explain that I didn't have the address of where I would we staying. The final customs guy laughed about this, and we had a good chat about my plans for the trip and knowingly nodded when I said it was my first time. Finally I somehow made my way onto the subway system to head to my hostel. It wasn't exactly the easiest task, and I struggled to figure out the ticket g system as well as the subway map, not to mention getting on the busy subway trains with a suitcase and bag full of electronics was like having a child in tow and a baby on my back. Goddamn. The train ride itself (I went for the cheap one) took almost 2 hours to complete while I couldn't sleep due to being too nervous to miss my stop.
Once at my station, I asked a security guard about the hostel I was staying in, which he had never heard of. He went away for a moment and gave me directions I half-understood, which was alright. Good shit, Japanese class! I walked out into the warm and humid night, suitcase in hand, and eventually spotted the place down a side street right as I was about to turn back and ask someone for help. Checking in, I got the tour after trading in my sneakers for house slippers (my shoes wouldn't fit in the cubby and the slippers wouldn't fit but they luckily had a bigger size) before heading back out again to get some dinner and some water. I've tried 2 different things that looked like water but both have turned out to be sweet Crystal Light tasting beverages, so uber fail there.
I'm not sure if it'll happen again tomorrow, but I was getting stared at quite a bit. Sometimes it'd be the good-natured neighborly sort of look, but other times it was more of a "get out of here" kinda vibe that I was at first surprised to see, but then came to terms with it. Those people giving me stink-eye got smiles in return, and I even greeted some people though they didn't greet me back. We'll have to see if this keeps happening, it reminds me of those scenes in Inception where Ariadne kept messing with Cobb's dream and all the subconcious citizens started to look at her. No, I didn't get stabbed at the end of the night, but it sure was a bit creepy.
I think now I'll brush my teeth and go to bed early tonight. (A Japanese woman walked by me as I brushed and exclaimed, "Whoa...") The only pillow available is a small beanbag thing I've never seen before so this could be awesome or a complete disaster. We'll see!
[I didn't have much time to take photos today so... here's my bedroom at the hostel and a tired myspace self pic. sup]
They are staring at you cause you hurt their hero, Ryu. (Hint-you look like Sagat to them.) Interesting observation about the life of airports and seeing them as sort of timeless. Glad u made it despite being so tired. GGPO.
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