Beijing Blog Part 1: 18 Hours of Daylight

June 1, 2009-(Narita International Airport, Tokyo, Japan)

I never understood the idea of charging for internet. I’m already paying close to $1,000 for an airplane ride where we have to sit still for 14 hours without internet…the least airports can do is provide some free internet for a change. But oh well, I guess my loss is your gain as a lack of Facebook and Twitter is currently forcing me to write my journal entries for a change.

My day started out early…really early. My itinerary was scheduled so that I had a 6:30 a.m. flight out of Richmond, a four hour wait followed by a grueling 14 hour flight out of Dulles, an hour wait in Tokyo, and then a four hour flight to Beijing.

There was nothing really too interesting to say about the flight. You can only experience the dull roaring sounds, the constant crying of babies and the constant up and down motions of the plane before you can say you’ve just about had enough.

Throughout my trip, I used a carrier based out of Japan called All Nippon Airways. And if there was one good thing I could say about the carrier though, the food was amazing! Yes, I am currently on record on the William and Mary website as saying that airplane food was good. I mean, chicken teriyaki over rice served with cold soba noodles, steamed yellowtail with crabmeat over rice, salmon-filled rice balls, if this isn’t making your mouth water right now, I don’t really know what will.

Probably the most disconcerting thing about the flight, should any of my readers actually make the trip over to Beijing in the coming future, has got to be the way the Earth moves. On the way to Beijing, the plane is moving with the Earth at roughly the same speeds, so you’ll find that if you start out of Washington or Chicago during daytime, all throughout your flight, you’ll have the sun shining through your window.

I’ve got to say though, Narita International Airport in Japan’s got to be one of the more interesting airports to walk though. Walking by the international terminal, I saw booths for Hermes, Armani, Polo Ralph Lauren and Coach…I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything an airport with that many luxury stores before. I wonder if people actually buy from these places…I know I couldn’t afford them.

Well, its four hours more till Beijing, who knows what kind of surprises await me there? Guess you’ll have to read on to find out.