Japan/TransPacific Cruise Pre Cruise Day 2 Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean “How Far can We Make the Foreigners Walk?” or “Lost Luggage Lottery”

I know that I get some sleep but not a lot. I spend part of the time watching the flight map. We fly over the Aleutians. Interesting, we will be sailing back through the Aleutians on our way home. We get a snack. It is some kind of sandwich, only mine was still frozen in the middle. Meh, it is food. We are close enough to the Economy Plus section that we can see that they have actual China dishes. I get a Sprite Zero, just in case there is more sleep in my future. I am watching old episodes of “Abbot Elementary.” They are funny and it keeps me occupied. After each episode I try to drift off again, sometimes I succeed, sometimes I do not. It is now time for breakfast, it is 2:00pm Tokyo time and 1:00 am EDT. I hear the flight attendant offering the row ahead of us either noodles or eggs. When he gets to me I said that I wanted noodles. He thanked me for paying attention. When you have a plane this large and you have to keep giving the choices it must get to be tiring. The noodles are a typical Asian breakfast, I see the scrambled eggs, they have green peppers, I dodged a bullet there. They are starting to lighten the windows and I can tell that we are dropping in altitude. We were due in at 3:55, we are now projected to get in at 4:27. Whatever. I start to sort out what goes back where. I have both neck pillows, my water bottle and my headphones to put away. After having the headphones on all night my ears need a break. The mom from the family next to me is also sorting out what ended up on the empty middle seat. At least she did not try to stake claim to it. Now come the customs and immigration forms to fill out. We have our QR code, OK, you do not need to fill out this form. The best news that I have heard all day. “I am Andrea and I suffer form formaphobia.” We are descending more and I can see peaks of land and some daylight. They still have the windows near us tinted. We land and for a plane this size it was a fairly smooth landing. When it is out turn we head off of the plane and up the jetway. I joked about how far they were going to make us walk to get to Customs and Immigration. Oh wow, that will teach me to joke. We keep going and going and going. It has been a long sleepless night why are you doing this to us? I have it figured out, we have been siting for 14+ hours they want us to exercise our legs, this is for our benefit. There is finally new signs. There are also people standing around to direct us. Non Japanese are sent to the right. We pull out the passports and our QR codes. It was weird because when Rob printed out his QR code he got this itty bitty thing and I got a huge one. We are told to stand in line 24 and do not have to wait long. I take Rob’s passport out of the holder, I have learned that NO ONE likes to deal with your passport in the holder. I scan his QR code, he lines his face up in the screen for a photo and he is instructed to put his index fingers on a scanner and to hold still. I do not think that our agent speaks any English, or if he does he is not using it on us. Rob must have passed because they hand him his passport. Now it is my turn, but I am ahead of Rob in the line and I need to be behind him. OK, we are both tired and cranky, just work with me. I got through the steps but realize that my QR code is too large to fit in their scanner. Aha, I had taken a photo of it on my cell phone when I filled out the form on line. I quickly pull up the photo, scan it, put my fingers on the sensors and I must have passed because I am handed my passport and am waved on. Huzzah! We have passed the first barrier. Now it is time to claim our luggage. I am still showing one suitcase as not making the plane. We will see who loses at lost luggage lottery. I see Page and Barry. I have never actually met them but we have messaged and seen each other on Zoom calls. I thanked her again for helping to get us on the flight here. I told them that one suitcase did not make it. The luggage is starting to come and there is Rob’s checked bag, I am the lost luggage lottery loser. I am trying to think of what I have in my carry on bag and how long this will last me. I know better than to try to buy clothes in Japan, they do not have people my size. We are waiting with Page and Barry since we will be riding with them to the hotel. I am looking around trying to find the luggage office to deal with this. I have a very distinctive carry on bag, it is blue with a blue and pink design on it. Page is looking for their suitcases when she spots a checked bag that matches mine. Good thing that she was looking, we would have missed it. Yup, it is my suitcase. We did check the tag on both to verify. Somehow these bags made the transfer from one plane to the next. I wonder what bag they are looking for? We have kiosk to stop at, luckily there is a very nice agent there. We scan our QR code again, scan our passport and look into the screen. Huzzah! Another barrier passed. Go to line 4, you are digital. OK, For some reason Page and Barry and sent to 3 then 2 but we go through 4. I don’t care, we are through. Page had gotten the message from our driver. He wanted a photo of our luggage so that he could find us. That is different. Page takes a photo of our cart. We have been scanning the names on all of the clipboards being held up. Ah, there is our driver, we follow him to the parking garage. Hehe, he does not know where he is parked. He keeps trying the key to see if he can get the horn to honk. I am so tired that I actually find this amusing. For those of you reading this can’t you see this happening to the person who is supposed to take us to the hotel? We find the van, it is a long one, plenty of room for luggage and people. We are told that it will be 30 minutes to the hotel. That means that I may be in a bed in 90 minutes. Tokyo is the world’s most populous city. Amazingly they are really pretty good drivers. I have seen some scary drivers in foreign cities. We get to the hotel just and Seth and Brandon are coming out to go to dinner. It is great to see them, they are so happy that we actually made it. Seth gives us a few details, like reception is on the 2nd floor and there will be a pack of information with us. We get to the desk and I give our names. She has our rooms ready, she just needs our passports. I had asked Rob to get a credit card out. Even though we have paid for the room they usually need a credit card on file. No, she wants our passports. Rob is at the point of exploding if one more person asks to see our passports. The clerk asks if she can make photocopies of them. I say “yes” but I wonder what would happen if I said “no?” Yeah, to tired to test those waters. We are given our room cards and sent on our way. We are able to get up the elevator with Page and Barry and nine suitcases. We find our room. Oops, we should have had Page and Barry head down the hall ahead of us since their room was beyond ours. We are trying to hold the door and get our suitcases into the room. I know that it really wasn’t that long but while you are fighting it or waiting for someone to fight it, this does seem like a long time. The room is “cozy.” This will prepare us for a cruise cabin. We come in and fall apart. We are not going anywhere tonight, we just need a shower and sleep. I take first shower. This way I can tell Rob how the controls work and which bottle is shampoo and which is body wash. He cannot see this without his reading glasses and who wears reading glasses in the shower. I am trying to let my hair dry before I got to bed. I make the mistake of laying down on the little couch in the room. Oh wow, I am tired. When it is time to turn out the lights we cannot figure out how to do it. This is one of those rooms where you have to put your room card in to make the lights/power work. That is my solution, but Rob does not like that. I keep searching for light switches, we try to call the front desk, but it does not go through. Oh wait, what is this thing next to the phone? Why it controls all of the lights in the room. Yes, we have achieved darkness. Good night