Air Tokyo. Well, I must say I am having some serious Air India de ja vous. Only this time, the seats on the plane are royal blue instead of deep burgundy, and instead of 80 percent of the clients in turbans, 80 percent are Japanese. The connection to Chicago was a breeze. An hour . Thanks to Jacob who refused to wear a mask during his bought of pneumonia last week, I have a raging upper respiratory infection for which my ears have been experiencing searing and un-ending pain from the changes in cabin pressure.
I paid an extra 20 bucks for a window seat to Chicago with lots of leg room, only to discover that out of an entire plane, there were about 15 people on it and I could have sat where ever I pleased. Murphys law. When I landed, I was amazed to find the toilets have these automatic, self changing plastic wrap seat covers. I was so impressed I not only took a photo, but I also took a video of the end result and subsequent flush. I tried to spare you the pee as you will see.
This flight, from Chicago to Tokyo is about 12 hours long. I slept for a couple of hours, and was awoken to the strong smell of urine. Seeing that I lucked out and got the asscrack back of the plane seat reminiscent of the India flight where I can’t recline and there doesn’t seem to be any English channels on, I was filled with the nausea that accompanies too much Tylenol cold and the feeling that someone has a urinary tract infection next store in the washroom.
This flight, from Chicago to Tokyo is about 12 hours long. I slept for a couple of hours, and was awoken to the strong smell of urine. Seeing that I lucked out and got the asscrack back of the plane seat reminiscent of the India flight where I can’t recline and there doesn’t seem to be any English channels on, I was filled with the nausea that accompanies too much Tylenol cold and the feeling that someone has a urinary tract infection next store in the washroom.
Oh, but wait. The menu for the flight includes scallops or curried pork, and I am happy to find out that the smell is actually the seafood. I opted for pork. I am extremely delighted to be presented with a vanilla haagen daas ice cream container. This would be the highlight so far.
The flight was a north western trek over Canada and the ocean to Asia. About 12000 kilometres. When we landed in Japan, I suffered the most excruciating pain during landing due to my blocked sinuses. I could not hear anything except muffled sounds. I was terrified when I de boarded and headed to the immigration line. When I got to the desk, the attendant, who had the worst accent ever tried to talk to me, and I found myself squinting and leaning over. I was trying to talk and the man was telling me to speak up, but I thought I was already yelling. It was so bizzare. Once I was asked if I'd rather be blind or deaf, and now I can say definately blind. No way would I want to live life not being able to be aware of my surroundings or at least hear a hint of danger around me. I seriously wanted to cry.
Using only my eyes, and avoiding people talking to me, I made my way to the next flight gate. I headed to the Pharmacy to buy some sudafed. I was horrified to discover that upon entering the place that all the drugs were boxed with cartoon style anime-esque writing in pure japanese. Blank stare. An american man approached me and led me to the drugs, and like a beacon in the dark I found what appeared to be Contac C Day/Night. I purchased it and took a leap of faith, taking two right away. I seriously contemplated going to the desk and begging to change my flight until the next day and staying there somewhere in order for my ears to heal. I was not sure if the next flight was going to make me totally deaf. I had no choice. It's not like I could take a train or something. I had to get there. And all the while I envisioned my father shaking his head because I wasn't putting my health first.
The flight to Bangkok was me sleeping the entire time. At 5000 feet in the descent, my ears suddenly closed over and the hearing loss was worse than the first time. Luckily I had started talking to this latin girl who was going to take a cab out of the airport for a conference, so she guided me and I followed her around until I was out the door. I paid for a cab and went to the hotel.
Finally. The adventure begins. Big hugs. We went right to sleep. The next morning everything was less muffled, but after heading to a shopping mall and having some starbucks, we took a cab to the airport for a fourth flight. This time I drugged myself right up, but it didnt help. Once again I landed half deaf. Never mind the ears....this is the most beautiful island I have EVER seen. Koh Samui....paradise.
We met up with Chris and went out on the town for a beer and some Indian food. At the beach, we all sat on a gigantic bean bag under patio lanterns and listened to reggae music and cheersed and hugged. My ears popped. BLISS! I was in heaven. Men approached with monkeys of all sorts for you to pet, we watched a thunderstorm in the distance light up the sky, and we took a deep breath. this is the start of a wonderful adventure.
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