I got to the airport around 5am, to catch my little plane to Vancouver BC, which had a capacity of 50 passengers. I had a window seat in the back row, but it seems the whole Pacific Northwest was having rain, so there was nothing to see during the flight. As we descended, I enjoyed the view of water and mountains. It was very beautiful! The airport is very spacious and wasn't at all busy in the international terminal. There was a stream running through the shopping/food court area to a large pacific coast aquarium. As I ate breakfast, I looked at the starfish, sea anemones and rockfish (snapper). See photo below.
I snapped a pic of my plane, an airbus 300, which had a seat configuration of 2-4-2. There were lots of empty seats, so I ended up with a window seat and empty seat next to me. It was a very nice flight, no real turbulence, crying babies were far away, and I took a nice solid nap for an hour or so. I also read a book, watched movies, and visited with a Seattle couple who were heading to their first vacation in Japan. But, 9 1/2 hours just gets long, no matter what you do.
Narita airport is nicely set up, so about 45 minutes after landing, I was through immigration, quarantine (they check you for a fever), customs, had all my luggage, rental cell phone, and was loaded onto my shuttle. I had worried about finding the driver, but he was inside the building, right where I exited customs, holding a sign with my name. (written in English)! We then drove to the domestic terminal to pick up two more passengers, so it was about 11:45pm PDT when we started the drive to Shimosuwa. I enjoyed the drive through Tokyo; I saw familiar sights from our trip last summer. Also, the weather was warm and sunny, and I enjoyed seeing beautiful Tokyo bay and the rivers that run through the city. I was feeling a little exhausted, so I didn't try very hard to get pictures. I took one on the tollway from the airport to Tokyo. The road signs are too far away to see well, but it does show us traveling on the left side of the road, with the driver's seat on the right.
We traveled the Chuo expressway to Shimosuwa, and when we started into the hills, it was so beautiful! Of course, every time I tried to snap a photo, there was a hill or wall in the way, so I gave up and took a little snooze. I have looked at Traci's town so many times on google streetview, that when we got close, I could tell the driver where to turn. lol! I sent her a text when we exited at Okaya, the town next to Traci's, and she was down to meet the van as we pulled in about 7:30pm JST. (3:30am PDT Friday). By that time, I didn't know what day or time it was,(barely remembered my name) so it wasn't too hard to just switch to Japan time. And now, after a night of pretty good sleep, it's Saturday. It feels like I got on a plane early Thursday, flew a few hours, and suddenly it's Saturday. I'm not sure I like this time-travel stuff!
I woke up at 4am, JST, and I was so hungry I couldn't sleep. My body thought I had missed both breakfast and lunch on Friday. My tummy was growling so much Traci woke up and heard it. So I made a snack, drank some tea, read for a while and felt much better. Then went back to sleep.
Now we're off to find a meal, rent a bike, do some shopping, and see the lake. Mt Fuji is shy at the moment, but I hope to see it soon.
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