We are in SeaTac airport, awaiting the signal to board the plane. I am filled with nervous anticipation, although I am sure some of that will subside during the long, 11-hour flight ahead. My mind swims with the thoughts of what's to come. Japan! I'm going to Japan! And of course, in the back of my mind, that paranoid idea that our plane is going to bury itself into the Pacific Ocean. It's in God's hands now, I must keep telling myself.

I can't wait to sit on the plane and listen to every CD in my collection.

We will be going forward in time, and therefore will be awake for almost two days straight, unless we can manage to sleep on the plane.

About 3:00 pm PST

We have just boarded the plane and are beginning to proceed down the runway. Yay! Our adventure begins! I sit at the window, with a view of the wing. ^^ I am, again, nervous and excited.

"Even with the clouds, we are..."

I'm listening to music and doodling. YaY :P

4:25 I think they're about to serve dinner...

4:55 Just had my first gulp of raw fish. Considering the fact that it's plane food, it wasn't too bad, but I hope the stuff in Japan is better. :)

About 5:06 pm PST

I want to get my camera. But that would bean getting up and walking in front of Seat Hogger Guy. I swear he practically glares at me when I even THINK about getting up and walking around. I'll wait till he gets up. I hope he doesn't have a huge bladder or anything...

Land! I see land down there! Alaska? Canada? Lots of snow! Mountains! That's so cool looking!

Hey mom, I'm hurtling through the sky in a sardine can with wings! (My mom has this thing about planes...)

There's no boundary between horizon and sky as I look out the window. It's just white melting into blue. It's about 7:24 pm back home, but this plane seems like the land of no time. No concrete boundaries, no darkness, no aging or advancing. Everything is held still.

The movie they're showing has Japanese subtitles. :)

I have no idea where we are. But if I've figured it out correctly, we should land in Tokyo around 11:00-12:00 PST, O_O and it'll be 4:30 pm or so there, so we'll be up till about 5 in the morning, our time? This ought to be interesting. :)

8:00 pm, PST

I wonder where we are? 8:45 pm, PST. It's dark out at home. Weird thought, because it's bright as noon here. The sky is no longer so blinding, though. I think we're over the ocean (well... DUH).

I think it's already Tuesday May 12 here, where I am now.

They're serving BREAKFAST! ^_^ Weird! Breakfast at almost 11:00 pm!

I guess, then, I should put

Tuesday, May 12 1998

Even though it's only 11:15 pm PST. :)

We have, I assume, crossed the international date line.

Monday passed and Tuesday arrived somewhere in the ever-blue skies over the Pacific. I'm not quite sure where one ended and the other began; it just seemed that the afternoon was frozen in crystal blue skies and clouds stretching as far as the horizon. Somewhere, however, we crossed the International Date Line, but our bodies won't recognize this until later, and only then with complaining. And so we continue our endless flight towards Tokyo. Once there, I'm told, we'll begin a crazed rush to our hotel. One million people go through the Tokyo airport every day. Someone put it this way: Imagine SeaTac airport (or your local large airport.) Imagine it completely packed with people, and they're all moving. I look towards it with a bit of apphrehension.

We touched down in Japan very excited and disoriented. Some people had snoozed the whole flight, but I had been awake the whole time, so I felt a bit light on my feet, even with all my carryon dragging behind me. We jumped into a cramped little shuttlebus and went inside the airport to begin the long customs process. Someone said it took about three hours, but it didn't seem that long to me - I was too thrilled at the thought of being in Japan, and too fazed from being up two days straight. After showing our passports, we ran through the twisting airport hallways to another bus, which ferried us into Tokyo.