Travel to Japan

We got to the airport at 4 AM but had to wait in line until close to 5 to get our luggage tags for the flight. We boarded the plane in the wind and rain - a little bumpy on the take off, but we were fine once we got above the clouds. Our flight to Chicago was uneventful and our gate to fly out to Japan was on the same concourse so we were very lucky. We only had to wait for about an hour for Kelly (Lana's daughter) to arrive from Tampa and then we all went into the Tuscany Cafe for breakfast. Our plane was delayed on boarding and then again on take-off as there were about 25 passengers from Boston who had been delayed by the weather and we couldn't take off without them. Once we got up, the flight was fine. Dave and I sat next to a couple from Philadelphia who were traveling to Taipei to visit her mother. The woman gave me some helpful hints on improving my chopstick routine. We arrived in Tokyo and were met by a travel representative after clearing customs and immigration. We rode a shuttle bus into the city and then took a taxi to our hotel. Our guide Junko Ito met us and showed us to our rooms. I will explain more about the rooms when I have time. We are due for a meeting soon and then we will have a tour of Tokyo.

Pre-Japan

Well, we are ready to start our new adventure. We drove to the airport in Providence and ate at Legal Seafood before checking in to the hotel for the night. Our flight to Japan is at 6:30 tomorrow morning so we have to be at the airport at 4:30 for check-in. This particular hotel had a deal going in which you can leave your car for up to three weeks for a total of $30! I just thought I would put a post on the blog before we actually start our trip. Will write again when we are in Tokyo.

Saturday February 6, 2010

What a dummy! I couldn't remember how to get the pictures to the blog, but now have figured it out. The scenic view is from the top of the road where we are staying (about 5 miles). We went up this morning to take pix as when we went up yesterday it was all fogged in. The views were glorious this morning. On the way up we saw a 200 pound wild pig with huge tusks. He was on the side of the road and then took off into the brush. Unfortunately the camera was in the back seat and we weren't quick enought to snap his picture. The other shot is of our CCC camp (at least the two buildings that we are living in). After breakfast we went up to the look out to take pictures and then took a hike into the woods. It gets quite cold at night - mid 40's and there is no heat in the buildings. My alarm clock has a thermometer and it was 54 in our room this morning! Needlesss to say it was hard getting out of the sleeping bag. By the time we got back from our hike, we were melting and came back to camp to change into shorts. The folks from NC are leaving today so got to say a last goodbye to them. We headed down the mountain (again didn't stop for pictures as the fog and mist had blown in) and by the time we got to town it was 77! We drove to Hanapepe and had lunch there. We then went to Salt Pond Park to dip our feet in the water - chilly, but not bad - definitely swimmable. We walked around for a bit and then came here to the BrewHouse at Waimea Plantation Cottage to use their wireless internet. I will continue to try to get one the blog with the dial up but did not have much luck yesterday. The plan is to do some more exploring this afternoon before we head back to camp. The cell phone does not work at camp so we will use email for the most part.

Friday February 5, 2010

We woke up fairly early this morning - hard bed and strange dreams. We had breakfast at the hotel - toast and fresh pineapple - yum! We packed up the car and headed off to the grocery store in Lihue as we heard that the one in Waimea was smaller. We bought all of the dry goods that we would need for the week and then headed out for Waimea. We went past the town for a while to see what was out near the end. The road actually does end on this side of the island because of the topography, but we didn't make it all the way to the end - we will save that trip for another time. We came back into town past an old sugar mill and stopped at a small local craft fair where we got lots of suggestions for eating from the local women. We ended up eating at a small cafe right next to the grocery store. They were advertising a Furlough Friday special breakfast for teachers as Hawaii has just voted to have no school on Fridays for the rest of the school year as a cost savings measure. Not far from the cafe there were a dozen people protesting the new law - most of them looked like moms who were against the loss of time in the classroom. After lunch we picked up our cold items and fruit and then headed up to camp. The road to camp is 15 serpentine miles! We have never seen so many twists in one road! It goes from sea level to 3600 feet. The views along the way are spectacular, but it was a bit hazy so we didn't stop to take pictures. I can see why they call it the Grand Canyon of the Pacific - very impressive and beautiful. We got up to camp (one of the pictures) and found that we have two buildings. One is a communal kitchen, dining/living room, and library and the other has a computer room (with dial-up) - I still can't figure how to blog on it and bunk rooms. We have a private room with a bunk bed and a single bed. There are another couple from North Carolina and their daughter who have the other two private rooms and then there are two Japenese students with their tutor from Switzerland whom we haven't met yet as they went to town and missed their ride up to camp. The couple from NC said they saw the boys at the beach, but not the translator - so who knows what happened. There is another small cottage behind the office and a couple from Alaska are staying there along with a woman from Oahu who is renting our her house for the winter to make money so is working for the camp for housing. We had soup for dinner as we weren't all that hungry. We then checked email and read for a while before going to sleep.

Thursday February 4, 2010

Amy and Zoe picked us up yesterday afternoon and took us to their house for dinner. We gave hugs to all and then Amy drove us to Warwick where we stayed the night at the Best Western Airport Hotel. (Such a nice thing to do especially since it was her birthday - thank you Amy!). We set the alarm for 3:15 AM, showered and grabbed a quick bite for breakfast before heading to the airport for our 6 AM flight to Cleveland. We had to run to another terminal to catch our next flight to LA, but we made it just as they were boarding - whew! At LAX we had time for a shared sandwich before boarding our flight to Kauai. It looked beautiful from the air, but by the time we collected the luggage and picked up the car it was dark so we will have to wait until tomorrow to see the scenery. It is now 1 AM so we have been up almost 24 hours. Needless to say, this will be a short note. Hope to write more tomorrow. Love to all.

Sunday March 8, 2009

Home-again, home again, jiggety-jig! We decided not to set the alarm for this morning as we were really tired. By the time we showered, dressed and got out the door, it was 7:30 (the old 6:30). We were really tired! We skipped breakfast at the motel as we had snacks in the car. We really cannot believe how much traffic we encountered on the road! At least today was not motorcycles, but there were plenty of cars and trucks on the road. We decided to use the GPS to route us home and we had a very interesting experience in D. C. - we went right by the Jefferson Memorial and could see the Washington monument and the Capitol building just a stone's throw away. We were only on surface streets for a half a mile or so and then got on to the Washington/Baltimore Parkway. It really wasn't bad - probably because today was Sunday - and I'm sure it saved quite a bit of time over going around on the beltway. This is not something I would have liked to do on a work day though. We had a few hold-ups: George Washington bridge, Cross-Bronx expressway, Stamford, New Haven, but all in all made pretty good time. We only had to stop twice to change drivers and arrived home at 5 PM after stopping to see Jaime and Dotty Jo for a few minutes. We had called Amy and Dean from the road and invited ourselves to dinner which she made at our house. Today is Dean's birthday so we had cake for dessert along with some strawberries we had picked up in Florida. It was really nice to see everyone. As much as we enjoy traveling, we do miss family and there really is no place like home. We chatted with Doug this morning in the car on the cell phone and called Laura this evening. So this is it for the blog for now. We will start it up whenever we have another adventure. Thanks to all of our loyal readers - we enjoyed your comments along the way.

Saturday March 7, 2009

We got off after breakfast this morning at about 8:15. We gave big hugs to Sandy and Larry - we had a wonderful week visiting with them and now won't see them again until they come back to Mystic in the middle of April. It was a beautiful day to travel: 68 when we got up this morning and it got up to 80 for the high in Georgia and South Carolina. We decided not to stop for lunch and pushed through. There was much more traffic on the road than we had thought. There also must have been a motorcycle rally just north of Daytona Beach - there were hundreds of them on the road as well as trucks hauling 6 to 8 cycles in trailers. At the exit, there was a back up of about a half a mile to get off the highway! The other thing that I haven't written about in the blog is the large number of different license plates in Florida. Dave and I have seen about 50 different ones and Sandy Levine thinks there may be as many as 200. I assume they don't cost as much as the special ones in Connecticut. We finally stopped for the night in Rocky Mount, NC at 8:15. We have just come back from dinner at Denny's which is next door and will read for a short time before going to sleep. Unfortunately, we will lose an hour tonight, but we would like to get an early start tomorrow so as to get home before dark if possible.