Awake: 4:00am SFO fog Overnight@ South San Francisco, CA
We were planning on taking the 5:30am shuttle to the terminal until
Katrina found out that we will be checking in @ the domestic terminal. Now
there is no rush & we have time to sit down & eat breakfast in the lobby
in lieu of carrying a breakfast bag.
Leave the Hampton Hotel on the 6:10 shuttle for terminal 1(10 min). Our
check in is quick & we are @ the gate @ 6:45am.
SFO to YVR (Vancouver, BC.) 2+00 hrs, arriving @ 9:45am. It’s been 5 yrs
since flying through this airport & the duty free shops have grown
considerably since then. We have a good 2 hrs to look around & sample some
smoked salmon, dark chocolate & cheese.
About 11:30am as we are milling about the duty free shop “Spirit of the
North” the Nuance group of Canada, Nick & Zack casually find us loitering.
Amazing…now we are 6. Both boys look good, relaxed & ready to travel some
more.
We had reserved seats close to each other but when looking @ Nick’s ticket
before boarding the Boeing 767, he was 7 rows behind us. Can’t have
that….so Kathy got right after the young man that had the seat next to
Zack & politely told him that our family was flying to Nagoya for our
son’s wedding, etc. This young man was single & his traded seat was next
to a lovely young girl. We think it was a win-win deal. So now we have
Nick & Zack in 13A & 13C. No middle seat…. Kathy & I in 14A & 14C, and
Katrina & Mary Jo in 15A & 15C. It was nice. It was a long flight(12 hrs)
but the time went quicker then a lot of other long flights because of the
interaction with the boys, Katrina & Mary Jo.
We had 2 complete meals & snacks in between + wine & liquor. We watched 3
good movies: “Quill,” “Roman Holiday,” & “In Good Company.” The boys &
Kathy played a few card games & Nick took lessons on playing bridge from
Zack.
Our senior steward, Michel, added to our distraction much of the
time…coming up & flirting with the girls, telling good stories, passing
out snacks, etc. At one point, he went toward the rear of the aircraft to
find a nice Japanese girl for Zack but came back with 4 lovelies….telling
them: “there he is: he’s single!” They hung around for maybe 20
min…somewhat blocking the aisle with no complaints. The girls spoke broken
English & Nick helped in the translation. One of the girls, a singer, sang
us a Japanese song which was very nice….we were impressed.
We all napped a little somewhere along the way. I snuck in my 2 hr nap
during a French movie. I also encouraged Mary Jo to get up & walk around
for exercise. It was entertaining for me to see this Michel guy flirting
with the young girls…he’s a very social & positive kind of steward. Any
airline would be happy to have such a fellow on their flights. He has been
a steward for 32 yrs.
Since we have crossed the International Date Line, Tuesday is already upon
us.
We arrive @ the new Chubu Int’l airport in Nagoya, Japan @ approximately
3:00pm.
Baggage was slow in getting to the carousal….but immigrations went
quickly. Then…the surprise: Atsuki & Yasuko + Eriko were waiting for
us…..Nick’s future father-in-law, mother-in-law & wife to be. They
introduced themselves to all 6 of us. They are much younger looking then I
expected. Their English is broken but we were able to communicate pretty
well as we walked toward the taxi area. Yasuko and Kathy shared some
laughter as Kathy showed Yasuko her hand written Japanese phrases and
Yasuko showed Kathy her hand held language translator. They had made
arrangements for the 6 of us to be transported via 8 passenger jumbo van
into Nagoya & our Cypress Gardens Hotel (40 min). We get our room
assignments which include a Western/Japanese breakfast for 10
mornings…unpack our suitcases…then talk with our kids & Mary Jo about
having dinner @ the hotel @ 7:00pm.
Kathy has a small pizza; I have a garlic & olive oil spaghetti with
eggplant meal…both very good.
Nick & Eriko stay @ the airport to greet my brother, Don, his wife, Josie,
& our sister Corinne when their flight arrives around 5:00pm….then later,
Melissa, Kevin & little Matthew on their flight around 7:00pm. Due to a
delay of Don’s flight, they all waited for the Footes’ arrival and
traveled to the hotel together.
During our dinner, we talked about waiting for the rest of the group to
arrive…but we couldn’t stay awake. We were both tired. Our phone woke us
about 9:30pm; the rest of our family was in the hotel lobby, but we’ll
have to wait ‘til the morning to greet them.
Lights out: 9:05 pm
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