Of planes and codfish

Well, this was by far the most interesting plane ride I have had yet in my plane riding experience! The whole day has been both peculiarly exhilarating and saddening, though a little of both is needed at times like these.

So yes, I cried. A lot. And papa was there taking me to Boston and being sillier than usual (which is very silly, let me tell you) being a silly papa. So I walk on, through the security gate, trying my hardest not to burst back out into tears again and remain my composure for the slabs of X-ray doom which got me thinking about breast cancer and whether or not they would take my tupperware of hummus on suspicion of being a hidden explosive. (the images they showed you of what they were looking at through the machine were kinda nifty though, if slightly startling).
Onwards my airport lanes took me until I reached the familiar grandiose wall of windows which contained gates B45 and B47 to Narita. (to my curious note, B46 being a few meters up the way on the right, however it got there I haven't the faintest. Poor B46. I'll never understand airports). The flight was delayed by 20 minutes which was good since I had to print out my tickets from the desk, however they had to re-check the tickets when I tried to board and only let me on the plane with 3 minutes to spare until take off! It was a fated day indeed.

I wish I had pictures, but alas, my camera was stowed and I wasn't exactly in a good position to be getting up or even taking pictures. My seat came three seats forward of the rear of the plane, smack dab in the middle too, Seat F. The circumstances under which I flew this time to Japan were also strange in and of themselves, but comforting in a way. On either side of me sat two men, both Asian (returning home to Singapore and Japan respectively), both wearing some shade of blue shirt and jeans, and both had their family in the row next over with at least two kids each. Very curious times these are. And to follow that theme, my movie listing runs very Time Burton-ish, with Alice and Big Fish being two of what I saw. (and I must say, Big Fish was better than expected).
I asked for the immigration and customs slips before we got there, (and I'm very very glad I remembered to do so) because where I thought it would take me 3 hours to get out of Narita, it then only took me about 1! I suppose I've never actually exited Narita alone before, and groups with luggage do take quite some time to get, er, moving along, in most respects. The last things I did today was get a bit lost trying to find my hostel in the hot, cloudy, wet, and humid afternoon where a few friendly side shop owners and a bit of Japanese helped clear things up pretty simply. It's a lovely little place here, this hostel. It's still strange, I've barely had time to even absorb the fact that I'm in Japan.

Yet here I am! About ready to fall down after an roughly estimated 20 hours of travel, about an hour's sleep (too little the night before as well) and much lugging of backpacks and stress.
Bed, here I come.