From Korea to Japan

I had a hard time getting to sleep due to anxiety. I did a bunch of tapping. Finally I fell asleep. I woke a little before Chris' alarm went off at 3:45. I resisted getting up, but there was no way to get around it. Chris got up and made coffee. I took a shower, and got dressed. I packed up my laptop and put snacks in the outer pocket of the case. Myra called me from the taxi to say they were parked out front. I put on my coat and shoes. Chris helped me carry my laptop and carry-on out to the car. I sat in the back with Myra. We told the driver when to pick us up on Wednesday. As he drove us almost an hour to the airport, I handed him cookies; probably the ones with turmeric. I could not see in the dark. But he didn't seem to mind. He let us out in front of Gimhae airport. I paid him 60,000 won. Then we went inside to find the check-in counter. We got our boarding passes. Then we found the restroom. From there, we went through the departure gate to security. We had no problems. Then we found our gate. We chatted as we waited, watching a young mother change her baby on the floor by the gate: too many kids and luggage to use the restroom. Then they called for boarding. We scrambled to get in line. We ran through the connecting tube to the plane and found our seats beside a Korean woman who had the aisle seat. The flight was short. As soon as we achieved altitude, the flight crew dispensed drinks. As soon as the drink cart passed me, I got up and went to the bathroom at the front of the plane. But it was occupied. I waited and waited. Finally the stewardess came back and encouraged me to go to the back of the plane. The drink cart was just finishing up, so I went back. Then I resumed my seat and soon we were descending into Incheon. There was snow and ice on the ground. We landed late and had to wait for our gate to open. So we were late getting off the plane and had to run to get to our connecting flight. There was a long line already in progress and we fell in. Soon we were on the plane, near the back in row 53. The stewardess put my suitcase up in the overhead bin. After we took off, I started eating cookies and seed crackers to help my ears equalize pressure. Soon after leveling off, I flipped through the movie menu. I chose one in English: Complete Unknown. It seemed interesting but I could not hear it well enough to really get it. Then the flight crew started bringing meals. The only choice was take it or leave it. I ate the beef and rice, and the piece of pineapple, and the radish kimchi. But I did not eat the tofu because Myra tried hers and did not like it. I tried to finish the movie, but it automatically paused during each announcement, and each one was given three times: in Japanese, Korean, and English. The plane landed before the movie was over. I resolved to watch it on Netflix. We stood and waited for the crowd to move. When we exited the plane, we had to go through customs. The line was huge, but it moved well. They were very organized. We then proceeded through baggage claim to the last checkpoint and into the airport lobby. We hit the restroom again. Then we looked for the limousine service desk. It was about 12:15 and the next limousine bus to the hotel was scheduled for 2:30. We did not want to wait, but taxis were expensive and taking the train or subway would leave us having to find our way from the last station. So we sat outside by the flowers and waterwheel in front of the airport. Myra read her book and I read my tablet. Then she went down the subway steps and got a map. We perused it together, unable to locate the Tokyo Dome. I thought it would be a major landmark, but apparently not. We went inside and looked for maps. But they were not much help either. Then we went outside to the place where the bus would come. A lady ticketed our carry-ons. When the bus arrived, the driver put the luggage under the bus. We got on and found seats near the back. As the bus drove away, they announced that we would be going to the New Sanno (smile)...after stopping at six other hotels (frown). On the way to Tokyo we both fell asleep. We woke up near the first stop, and watched the scenery after that. I noticed that the cars drove on the left. And Myra noticed that there were a lot of high-ticket cars. Finally it pulled up in front of the New Sanno. We showed our IDs to get in. Myra checked in at the front desk while I went to the travel desk to get directions to the Tokyo Dome. Then we went upstairs to our room. We freshened up and then went out again. We walked around the area to see what was nearby. We walked through a grocery store in a mall. There were no mall pamplets. Across the street, we found a hole-in-the-wall restaurant. We both ordered pork; mine boiled and hers roasted. Both were mostly fat. We ate what we wanted out of what was served. We went back to the mall and explored upstairs. Then we walked back to the hotel. We took some pics in front of the hotel. We looked for the NEX to buy coconut water, but it was closed. There was another store, and it had San Pellegrino in small bottles. I bought one. Then we investigated the pool, hot tub, and sauna. Then we returned to our room. I got on my laptop and she read e-mail on her phone, then turned on the TV. I e-mailed Chris that we were in our hotel room. I typed up my blog as we watched bizarre physical conditions get operations. Routinely the electricity cut out and Myra would get up, activating some motion sensor somewhere. It was very annoying because the TV would reset and she would have to find the channel again. I e-mailed pics from my phone to my laptop but they never arrived. So I had to connect my phone by cord and wait, and wait, and wait for all the pics to download so I can copy the ones I want. This never happened with earlier versions of Windows. When the post was written, I published it so we could prepare for bed.