and 28 hours later...

I'm in Kyoto! Sitting at Dad and Akiko's kitchen table, it's breakfast time. On my way over here for the room they got for me in Y.'s house I walked by a bakery and bought a cari-bun, yummy! You simply cannot find one in Vancouver, believe me, I've tried!

Getting here was no piece of cake, I used every mode of transportation, except of a boat (sadly):

Car to the airport in Montreal, courtesy of my Mom (thanks again!)

Plane to Chicago (1 hr 30 mins).

Train in Chicago to transfer terminals.

Plane to Tokyo Narita airport (12 hrs +). UGH...

Bus from the gate to the next plane on Narita tarmac.

Plane to Osaka Itami airport (1 hr).

MK taxi to my Dad's apartment in Kyoto (1 hr 30 mins).

This all started at 4:30am Montreal time on December 28th and ended at 8:30pm Japan time on December 29th (which is about 8:30 am Montreal time, I think, hence the 28 hrs).

All connections went smoothly despite the fact that all planes left late.

Slight glitch: one of my suitcases was forgotten in Chicago. Luckily it was the suitcase that consisted mostly of presents, so I have clean clothes to wear. Even luckier for my family here, the two dozen bagels that I brought over were in the suitcase that made it. Even luckier for me was that I didn't have to lug it around Narita and Itami airports, or pay for an extra bag on the MK taxi.

Slightly more worrisome: I seem to have already misplaced my jeans. This means that the only pair of pants I have is a bleach-stained pair of brown Thai fishermen pants...