{"id":557,"date":"2007-08-28T21:11:49","date_gmt":"2007-08-28T12:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-08-28\/557"},"modified":"2007-08-28T21:11:49","modified_gmt":"2007-08-28T12:11:49","slug":"back-in-kyoto-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2007-08-28\/557","title":{"rendered":"Back in Kyoto"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

Anthony and I returned home to Japan yesterday after a month<\/span> at my\nfolks' place in Ohio. The return<\/span> trip was substantially longer than the flight out<\/a>, and much\nmore gruleing than last\nyear's return to Kyoto<\/a> because it included a cross<\/span>-country leg before\nthe trans-pacific flight.<\/p>\n\n

Our trip started with a 4:00am wake-up-call in Cleveland, Ohio, with us\nfinally walking out of customs\/immigration at Kansai\nInternational<\/a> 25 and a half<\/span> hours later. It was a<\/span> long journey, but to\nsee Fumie — and to see how Anthony ran to her and jumped into her\narms — was certainly worth it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55 f\/2.8 @ 55mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>50 sec handheld, f\/2.8, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTired Boy at 37,000 Feet<\/span>\n\n(The EXIF<\/a> data says 34,728 feet, but I believe<\/span> the airplane's GPS more than my handheld unit<\/a>.)<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

It wasn't a good day for United Airlines. Our first<\/span> flight\n(Cleveland→Chicago) went fine, but the next flight (Chicago→San\nFrancisco) didn't start smoothly: we boarded half an hour late, and then\nsat on the ground for an additional two hours while mechanics fixed “a\nlavatory<\/span> faucet that won't turn off.” Two hours to turn off a faucet<\/span>? I\ndon't<\/span> know which is worse, the thought that that's true, or that that's the\nbest lie they could come up with.<\/p>\n\n

Some time was made up during the flight, so we arrived to San Francisco\nonly two hours late. A lot of<\/span> people missed connections, but luckily, our\nlayover before the flight to Kansai had been scheduled for three and a half<\/span>\nhours, so we still arrived with plenty of time.<\/p>\n\n

Sadly, that didn't matter, as our next flight also boarded 30 minutes\nlate, and like before, we sat while mechanics fixed something (this time in\nthe cockpit). The cockpit<\/span> must be substantially less complex than a faucet,<\/span>\nsince it took only an hour to fix.<\/p>\n\n

Once we finally pushed back from the gate, it took forever<\/i> (29\nminutes) before we finally took off. By this time<\/span> we'd been up for over\ntwelve hours and I was<\/span> physically and mentally exhausted. Knowing that an\n11-hour flight was still ahead only made it worse.<\/p>\n\n

Anthony fell asleep for a bit an hour into the flight, and I took<\/span> the\nopportunity to snap a picture<\/span> of the little sleepyhead.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D200 + Sigma 30mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>45 sec, f\/1.4, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

At about six or seven hours into the flight, I was shocked<\/span> to notice the\nseat-back display indicate “time since takeoff: 1:30.” The hour and a half<\/span>\nhad only felt like<\/i> six or seven hours. It was a<\/span> long<\/b> flight,\nmentally, physically, and chronologically.<\/p>\n\n

Anthony didn't sleep long that first time, but he did sleep again for\nabout the last three hours of the flight, which was wonderful. I think<\/span> I\nfell<\/span> asleep for about an hour in there somewhere.<\/p>\n\n

We landed at Kansai's new runway (28 Right), which opened earlier this\nmonth. The practical<\/span> effect for us was that instead of taxing for only one\nminute to get to the gate, we taxied for fourteen long, painful minutes,\ntraveling over six kilometers after actually landing and slowing down.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nLanding and Taxing<\/span>\nTracklog from my GPS<\/a> as seen with the most excellent Google Earth<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n

Immigration, getting our baggage, and clearing customs went pleasantly\nquickly, and we exited the secure area to find Fumie and her mom waiting,\nat which point much hugging and kissing ensued.<\/p>\n\n

Fumie handed me a key to a room at the on-airport hotel so that I could<\/span> rest right away, and took\nAnthony and the luggage home.<\/p>\n\n

I was showered and asleep before she got halfway there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anthony and I returned home to Japan yesterday after a month at my folks' place in Ohio. The return trip was substantially longer than the flight out, and much more gruleing than last year's return to Kyoto because it included a cross-country leg before the trans-pacific flight.<\/p>

Our trip started with a 4:00am wake-up-call in Cleveland, Ohio, with us finally walking out of customs\/immigration at Kansai International 25 and a half hours later. It was a long journey, but to see Fumie -- and to see how Anthony ran to her and jumped into her arms -- was certainly worth [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}