Sorry that this last post has taken so long to post. It’s just been pretty busy now that I’m back to the real world. That being said, this is going to be my last post until my next trip, hopefully by July 2011.
After furiously packing and making a list of things to declare at customs I ran off to the express bus to Kyoto. I arrived at the bus stop and one just left so I waited for the next one. There was a bit of confusion when I tried to ask the driver to stow the luggage in the hold but he wasn’t getting off his seat and then I tried to pay when I got on and he wouldn’t let me so I guess I had to pay after. The ride to Kyoto station was quick and he wasn’t even going at full speed. Hauling the 25kg piece of luggage and 2 suits was such a mission though.
I gradually made my way through Kyoto station to the top floor where the restaurants were. It was katsu time. This was my last hurrah. I timed the bus so I would be waiting at the restaurant when it opened at 11 and then I would eat and catch my shinkansen to Tokyo at 1156. It was going to be a long day. I was going to be taking the Shinkansen from Kyoto to Shinagawa, then taking the 1450 Narita Express which would get me into Narita at 1600. I would then have the long flight at 1800. I would be arriving in New York at the same time as when I left Tokyo because of the time change. heh.
Back to the katsu. I was going to an old favorite, a Kyoto restaurant chain named Katsukura – hands down the best katsu I’ve ever had. I was the first customer in and I ordered 160g of the best katsu cut they had. It was glorious. It was as good as I remember. The salad with citrus dressing, the hand-ground sesame seeds with katsu sauce, and the rice with barley mixed in. I left just in time and went off to my train platform only to find several hundred junior high school kids on a field trip. Who does that? The entire platform was full of kids. I was dreading spending 2.5hrs with these boisterous teenagers. As my train pulled up and I got on, I looked back and to my surprise none of them got on. They were catching another train, whew…
I wanted to take a photo of Mt. Fuji as the train passed it but it was cloudy and I could not see it. I saw Mt. Fuji clear as day with the iconic snowcapped peak when I took the shinkansen from Tokyo to Kakegawa but figured I could take the shot when I was riding from Kyoto to Tokyo. Another trip I guess.
After reaching Shinagawa and transferring to the local JR lines, I met SM on the Narita Express platform. She wanted to take me to the airport. We got to the airport and I checked in. I was waiting to be charged for overweight baggage like the last trip, but I didn’t – 25kg on the scale. I went to return my Softbank rental phone. It was just some lady in a booth that did a lot of other things too, she wasn’t just the Softbank lady. It was a little ghetto. I’ll be renting a phone every trip – it was so much more convenient this time, I just hope the bill won’t be ridiculous.
SM and I sat at the terminal for awhile and talked and finally I had to go. Security and outgoing customs was a breeze. The gate was at the very end of the terminal, completely separate from all the other gates. I was worried I was going to be late but when I got there they hadn’t boarded yet. It was cool being in First class since there was a huge crowd around the gate and the ground crew were not making any announcements about boarding. Finally, some little woman was making her way through the crowd and telling people that they were boarding First class only. I stepped up. Yup. I’m going to miss that. haha.
I got settled into my pod and checked the entertainment system – it was the same movies as the last flight so I turned it off and got ready to sleep. The food was pretty bad this flight so I just nibbled at it. I thought it would be better if it was being made locally. I did have 3 doubles of Glenlivet on the rocks. I was determined to get some sleep. I put the eyecovers and the Bose noise-canceling headphones on and then set the seat flat and passed out for most of the flight only to wake up for water and bad food.
We left an hour late but arrived at JFK on time. As we exited the plane there were TSA officials there. One was screaming at another one. The First and Business class passengers left the plane in a hurry through the maze of corridors only to find a dead end – there was a double door with big warning signs that indicated it was a restricted area, “do not open”. After waiting a few minutes and wondering what to do, a TSA guard slowly walked to the door and yelled at everyone to get back and then he opened the door with his card and key code. Yep, welcome home. Back to the suck.
Beautiful story. Just like the never ending story.