Day 1 - trip to Japan
The trip definitely started out on the right foot. i got a seat on the two seat side of the aircraft and no one sitting next to me. Thank you American Airlines. I had changed my seat three times prior to coming to the flight so that was a good thing that my final seat choice was a good one. Flight from DFW to Tokyo Narita was uneventful. Good food on the plane, a reasonably good movie - Russell Crowe in A Good Life but no sleep for me on the plane. i rested alot but never could go to sleep. Landed in Tokyo a few minutes early, cleared immigration and customs without a hitch and without much waiting. Went to check in for my connecting flight to Osaka and then went to the departure lounge for that flight. i had about a 3 hour time period to kill. I could have gotten on the earlier flight to Osaka but lisa was at work so it would not have done me any good. Flight departed about 45 minutes late but was only 20 minutes late in landing so made up time in the air. The Tokyo Airport was not nearly as crowded as i expected and the part of the terminal my flight departed from was a ghost town until about 30 minutes prior to boarding. When the announcement was made to board, everyone rushed the gate to scan their boarding pass so guess they don't board by groups. The JAL flight was also uneventful from Tokyo to Osaka. The funniest things on this flight were that the stewardesses kept checking the overhead bins - bin by bin- to be sure they were locked in place. they did this 3 times during a one hour flight - a possible lawsuit from a falling bag prompt this attention to detail???then the video they showed about airplane safety did not have real people in the video - but what looked like wooden people. I guess they worked cheaper than the real people...ha ha ha...

Arrived Osaka just fine and made my way outside to catch the bus. A young lady saw that i was standing in line and she pulled me out of line and took me to the vending machine and helped me buy my ticket. So i waited about 5 minutes for the bus and then was off from Osaka to Kyoto. The bus was full of people - very few seats and the traffic was horrendous going both directions on the freeway - and this was at 8:30 PM at night. An hour later we were in downtown Kyoto near the Kyoto Train Station. Lisa did not know for sure where the bus let out. So i got off the bus and walked for a while looking for the Starbucks we were to meet at and did not see it. Went into a small coffee shop type restaurant and asked a couple of young men if they spoke english - NO - but i gestured enough and said starbucks they indicated it was on the other side of the train station. So I went into Kyoto Station and all the way through it and out the other side and saw Starbucks. Lisa was waiting for me inside. A big bearhug reunion!!!

We took the train from Kyoto station to Yamashina about - 4 minutes and it was definitely standing room only and got off and walked about 10 minutes to her apartment.

Met Audrey - Lisa's roommate and one of their other friends who live in the apartment complex - Lisa from the UK. Had some hot tea and sacked out. Slept about 6-7 hours so i'll be tired today but we have lots of sightseeing to do and i'll update more tomorrow morning.