"Meri Kurisumasu"

That would be Japanese for Merry Christmas. An appropriate title for this blog entry, as I spent the bulk of Christmas Day in a large shiny tube hurling thru the atmosphere towards the land of the Rising Sun.

I actually did not mind having to work the holiday, because I was still able to spend Christmas Eve with my mom and ladyfriend and for the past 10 years I have worked Christmas Day, so I guess I am just used to it.

I was lucky to have a great crew on my flight over to Tokyo. My friend Jay was onboard. We have been friends since 2001, but this was the first time we got to fly together. The rest of the crew were new to me, but everyone was festive and brought gifts and snacks for all. I brought hummus and crackers for everyone.

Our flying time over was 13 and a half hours, and it's daylight the whole way. Kind of a needy crowd, perhaps they were infrequent holiday travelers. Normally the people sleep most of the way (we shut the window shades shortly after departure... sort of subliminal sleeping suggestions).

Tokyo was cold and windy. My friend Jay wanted to slam-click (airline language for stay in his room and sleep) but I insisted we get out and do a little walking around. We decided to skip going into town because it was so cold, and instead went with a few other crew members to the Aeon Mall, nearby. I have always wanted to go to the Daiso Store (where everything is 100 yen, sort of like a Dollar Store here). When we got to the mall, this Russian sounding gentleman, who kind of looked like a mobster, came up to us and put his hand on our co-worker Peter's shoulder, and asked for a light for his cigarette. Being Americans, we are into our personal space, and being flight attendants, we hate for people to touch us, so we backed off from this guy pretty fast. He and his Russian mobster friend followed us into the Daiso Store though, so we hung out in the knife section in case they wanted to rumble. Perhaps our threatening body language sent a clear message that we did not want to be messed with, because they left us alone after that.

I got a grey ceramic cat figurine for my ladyfriend Kirsten, and a countdown timer and a keychain flashlight for work. I wanted the countdown timer because people are always asking me how much longer... how much longer til we land? I was sad to learn that the timer only went to 1 hour, so there is 100 yen I will never see again.

We finished up at Daiso and went to Justco, the supermarket, where I got some seaweed rice crackers and peanuts and then caught the shuttle bus back to the hotel. The basement of the hotel has a cafeteria just for airline crew, so we went there and had a few beers and dinner. Jay suggested the Magic Salmon, which is served on a skillet with cabbage and sprouts. It was very good. We ran into a few people from the later flight and visited with them. Around 9pm, I went back to the room and went to sleep, because at this point I had been up for over 24 hours and I was tired.

The coolest thing about the room is the toilet. Every time I see a Japanese toilet I think of my friend Ingrid. When she went to Japan, she fell in love with the toilets, so much so that it got a mention in their Christmas card. Without getting to specific, these toilets can "hose you off" after you are done with your business.

I woke up early the next morning, at like 5:30am, and watched a Netflix movie I brought along, The Time Machine. Then I went downstairs to the fitness center to work out and stopped at the cafeteria to visit with Jay while he had breakfast. Our pick up was at 11:30am and we headed out for the airport. It was still very cold and very very windy. Windy days are the one big downer about wearing hearing aids, because you hear the wind blowing so loudly.

We were full coming home, just like our flight over. I was hoping there would be a Japanese style entree left in first class, but the passengers nabbed them all up. Since we fly into the night on the return leg, most people slept, which left us with a lot of down time. One of our three First Officers, Mike, spent his break burning CD's from his vast collection of iTunes, and he was kind enough to make a few CD's for me. We had time for some picture taking as well :)

I joked with Jay that he can retire now, since he has achieved his lifelong goal of working the Duty Free cart with me.

I slept like a log on my break in the bunks. Normally I never sleep, but I laid down and the next thing I know it is two hours later and they are calling us in the bunks to wake up.

Our arrival time happened to coincide with a major thunderstorm over the airport, so we circled over Northern Texas and Southern Oklahoma for over an hour before we landed. Our flight home was scheduled for just under 11 hours, but we blocked in with 12 and half, so we picked up some time, which I was happy to get since I am over my guarantee. Anything over 70 hours is paid at an incentive rate, which is a little bit higher.