We had two shuttles picking us up in the morning to drive us the short mile over to the airport. I drove with L’s dad again so I didn’t have to worry about leaving on their schedule. We were one of the first group there so I quickly popped into the check in kiosk line before things got too crazy. Delta was quite efficient in herding us around. I tested my luggage before getting into line. My bags were at 49 and 50 pounds! Damn, I’m an excellent packer. Sadly I had to leave two pairs of shoes behind, my Sperrys and my tennis shoes as well as several bits of clothing.

Check in went swiftly and I headed off with a fellow JET to kill almost three hours at our gate. I wanted to grab some breakfast and lunch items (a bagel and a banana). We only had a 45 min layover in Detroit during lunchtime so I didn’t want to be left hungry. Due to reduced space on the full flight, they were asking those with large carry-ons to gate check their baggage at no additional cost. I jumped at the chance because my pack was heavy and I really only need the things in my purse. The Dramamine knocked me out as usual so I managed to get about an hour of sleep on the short flight. Trying to gather up all the sleep I could!

In Detroit, our travel agent that had flown with us, led the way to the next gate. It was a long walk. We met up with the Detroit JETs there. Our gigantic, double decker airbus awaited us. We actually did have time to grab some McD’s from across the gate, but I just stood around with my fellow JETs and ate my bagel. Eventually we were all crammed into the plane. It was decently nice with individual usb chargers, a large selection of entertainment (all the Marvel movies but cap 2!) and wifi if you wanted to pay for it. The flight left after noon. We had to park on the side on the runway for some reason according to air traffic control although the runway was clear. We actually got much more food than I was expecting. Something at 2 pm? Only choice beef or chicken though. Should have registered as vegetarian. Then a bag with breakfast, Japan time? And then one more meal that felt more like breakfast (egg or chicken).

I was sitting next to one of my consulate JETs who woke me up every time for food. I wanted to sleep the first five or six hours of the flight to get on Japan time. It worked although it was more dozing and not very restful as per usual with planes. With the rest of my time I re-watched Iron Man 2 and Avengers 2, getting my Natasha fix, ha.

At some point we crossed the International Date Line and jumped into the future!