Trip to Okinawa - Part One

So, here I am at 26808 feet….

I cannot believe how excited I am to be stuck on a flying metal tube for 13 hours! I have been blessed to be seated in Business First and let me tell you! WOW! I have my own personal video screen to watch whatever I want on…I can watch cartoons if I so desire! Hmmm…..I wonder if they have Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner. Lol! Anyway, right now I have the flight map cycling on my screen so that I can see where I’m going and how I’m getting there. It looks as if we are going to be heading west over the Pacific into Narita. With any luck at all I will be able to get a few shots of Tokyo itself and my biggest hope is to get some amazing shots of Mt. Fuji.

Having been born into, brought up in, worked in and now married to the airline industry I rarely am surprised by anything that they come up with on these aircraft. The sheer fact that I am able to use my laptop, even if it is without wi-fi, is amazing. I remember when all you had to entertain you was the magazines in the pocket in front of you, but on flights say to Hawaii, you got a movie of their choice. Now, you can pick what you want to watch. You want to watch cartoons? Its there. You want to catch up on your favorite t.v. program? Yup, you got it, its there. Wanting to catch a movie that you haven’t seen in the theater? For the most part, its there, too. You can play games, listen to music, go shopping (?!), good heavens! It’s all at your fingertips!

Lunchtime! Getting into the spirit of my adventure, I decided before takeoff that I would have the Japanese meal. Uhm….to say that I have little idea what on earth was on my plate most of the time is an understatement. I know I had some shrimp and a piece of octopus; some broad beans, some wasabi (which I dutifully ignored, thank you very much). I did have some green tea, but it was so light in color that I was afraid that it might have been sake, so I did what any normal tourist would do….I asked, “what is that?”, to which I was told by the flight attendant, who seemed to be quite amused with me, that it was indeed green tea. I was kind of afraid to ask about some of the other things on my plate, but it was really pretty good. I think that so far today that I have eaten more in these few hours that I’ve been awake than I have all week. I’m stuffed!! Even with the offer of an ice cream sundae, I had to refuse. Who knew that fish and cucumbers and carrots and noodles and green tea would be so filling? I didn’t even eat my soups, yes; plural, or the tofu (eww), and I left my green beans, even though they were very good. All I know is that if I eat even a sesame seed I’ll burst.

Oh, speaking of the flight attendant, well, actually I have to comment on my height. I’m short….5’4 ¼” to be exact. This cabin has very tall people in it, I, as it turns out, am the shortest. There is even a short Japanese flight attendant who is taller than me. Getting my carry on bag into the overhead bin was an exercise in futility. My seat mate had to put it up for me, he has to be close to 6’2” and he could see straight into the bins. Me, I have to jump. Picture an Oompa Loompa jumping, not pretty. So that was indication number one that “you know you’re really short when….”  Indication number two was when I walked into the galley area to inquire where on earth the bathrooms were. As the head FA turned around, he bounced right into me. The hilarious thing about that is at his eye level, he wouldn’t have even seen me, I had to have been at least eight inches further down. You know how when you look down and even if you don’t have a double chin that you develop one because of how far down you have to move your head? Yeah, he had one. How embarrassing.

We just went over the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak. What a beautiful sight that was! I did manage to snap a picture as we were flying by at 40k feet so that you could see it as well.

Since this is all very new to me, everything seems like it should be an adventure, including the duty free shop. After looking through the magazine and having my eyes pop out of my head, I decided that this is one adventure that I’ll leave for the time when a rich Uncle leaves me a fortune in his will. In other words, it ain’t happening. I’m not sure that I would be purchasing these items even if I did have bucks to spare. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like Chanel just as much as the next girl…in fact, this takes me back to high school when an old flame gave me some Chanel 13 for Christmas. I was in love! Lol! I will never forget that fragrance and how giddy I would get whenever I wore it.  Anyway, I digress.

Oh, man! They brought out the ice cream sundaes…..DON’T LOOK! Lol!

So, as I was saying, I like Chanel as much as the next girl, but I will stick with my Alien by Thierry Mugler. I love the woody tone that has to it.

Oh, man….itty bitty cheesecakes….AAAARRRRGGGHHHH! I can smell the chocolate….right now, as full as I am, I would give anything for a stuffy nose! Lol!

The interactive map is showing that we are crossing the northern tip of Idaho right now, headed into Washington State….nope…heading out of Wyoming and into southeastern Idaho. The topographical map had me fooled, good thing that they showed the map with the stateliness on it. Oh, I forgot to mention! Before we got to the Rockies, we could have probably been considered having been in a “near miss”. Of course, when you’re in the air I imagine that anything short of 50 miles apart in the air is considered a close call. I was watching as a vapor trail seemed to arch over in our direction and watched as it continued to arch our way. Imagine my fascination as I watched us pass under a still visible vapor trail of the airplane that seemed to be headed towards Los Angeles, or somewhere in that area. No fright here, just quiet fascination. Weirdest feeling ever. While I probably can chalk this up to another experience that I’ve never had, let’s just say I don’t really relish repeating it. This time it was fascinating, next time it could be terrifying.

I decided that I needed a nap to work off the lunch I just had. These seats are infinitely more comfortable than the ones that I am used to riding in coach, or as they call it now, economy. The seat that I am in moves into a comfy little bed that puts those ones on television to shame. You can adjust the head, the foot, the lumbar…oh! That’s what that means! Here I am trying to adjust the height of my feet and I’m adjusting the lumbar. Sheesh! Anyway, it was a pretty decent nap.

We’re about a third of the way to Tokyo, according to the flight map, which amazingly I am finding interesting. It says 4468 to go to our destination, or about eight, eight and a half more hours. Then I get to wait for three hours more then another three on another plane then floating terrafirma, which is what Okinawa is…an island.