On the way.

I have no idea why things that are obvious to others seem to amaze me, but to no one else’s surprise, I am sitting in the Japan Airlines boarding lounge at O’Hare in Chicago, and I am surrounded by Japanese people. What a wonderful experience to sit in an airport terminal in the Capital of the Midwest and be surrounded by another culture. Might try some of the Japanese I learned through the “Rosetta Stone” before I board. Provided someone wants to have a conversation about their dog, horse, children, or dining room table (I am one third of the way through level one.) And Terminal 5 at O’Hare is a fascinating blend of world cultures. To walk through the concourse and pass ticket counters from Korean Air, Air Cathay, Royal Jourdanian, British Airlines, Swiss Air, Lufthansa and the like, you begin to appreciate the variety that is Planet Earth.

My Boeing 777 has been serviced and is ready to fly. Twelve hours in the air will top by 3 ½ hours the most time I have spent in an airplane for one flight. As geeked as I am to get on the way and experience Japanese hospitality in the air, I’ll bet the time goes by quickly. I considered myself pretty savvy in figuring out that although this is considered an overnight flight, we will actually be in daylight the whole way. As I understand it, we will be taking the Polar route from Chicago to Tokyo. Since the Sun favors the Northern Hemisphere in the summer months, and the Earth rotates counter-clockwise, we will have the Sun on our wing the whole way.

Boarding time, here I go.