Greetings from 38,001ft!

So, looking at the date stamp on this, I'm sure you're full of questions! I've been meaning to write this post all day and just haven't had the attention span, but right now in Tokyo it's 10:30pm and that's a bit early for me to be sleeping. I'll take a nap at an internet cafe after we're out of the airport.

So why the heck am I in the air now, as opposed to 24 hours ago?

Yesterday night, about 25 minutes before boarding started, Ken and I took our meds and got ready to knock out for the night as soon as we were off the ground, basically. We were allowed to board first, found our seats, and got comfy. Sadly, despite my best efforts back in June, our seats were separated by like 5 rows, though we both managed to score aisle seats. I started playing with the in flight entertainment screen, figuring out a seat-to-seat chat function, and my meds suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks.

Most of my night meds have sedating effects, which is why I take them at night instead of in the morning. Usually at home, I take my meds, maybe wobble too the kitchen and back for a snack, then lay down so I don't get dizzy. That couldn't happen in my economy seat; I couldn't even recline yet, because the plane was still boarding. What's worse, I started to feel nauseated, didn't think I had Zofran readily available, and the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me didn't have a sick bag. I tried breathing carefully, I tried just keeping my mouth shut, but in the end I was overcome... and threw up in my mask, hands, and lap.

Turns out, if you throw up during boarding on a plane, the pilot can and probably will kick you off the plane and have you rebooked onto the next flight!

I was too sick to complain, and back at the gate, we were rebooked and the gate agent even got us a room for two nights at the nearby Sheraton. We didn't have to sleep in the floor in the airport, or leave the hotel 13 hours ahead of our flight!

So we left, checked in at the Sheraton, I cleaned myself up reasonably well, and we went to sleep!

I considered taking a bus to the beach this morning, but despite LAX technically being close to the shore, there is no direct route; I would've had to take two buses, and I was already super achy and tired from last night. We managed to get cheap meals at Subway, tho, and relaxed in the hotel room until 9pm before returning to the airport. It ended up being a bit of a run to reach the gate in time because we waited for wheelchairs, but we were among the last to board and this time we had seats next to each other!

AND THIS TIME WE ACTUALLY TOOK OFF AND ARE CURRENTLY EN ROUTE!!

Turns out, it's a good thing we didn't fall asleep either away because the crew served dinner and drinks once we were at cruising altitude. Ken was nervous about whether the dinners contained sesame or not, and the crew couldn't say, so we split the goodies on my tray. Chicken and rice with potato salad, regular salad (one halved cherry tomato and some lettuce with olive oil & balsamic vinegar dressing that tried to squirt all over the older salaryman next to me 🫣), a whole wheat bun with butter, and some brownie bar that Ken inhaled. And a strong drink each to help knock out and also celebrate actually making it to cruising altitude successfully this time LMAO.

To our right, St. Matthew Island is visible, and more distantly Gambell, Alaska. To the left, Atka and Adak, of the Aleutian Islands.

I tried to see if the Aurora Borealis was visible, but it doesn't seem like it. I'm in the center of the plane but when I look at the windows on either side there's only darkness. Alas.

The plane's left wing, illuminated by the red blinker light.

Pretty soon we'll be crossing from Alaskan Standard Time to Russian Far East Time, upon which we'll jump from 5am to 2am. At least, I think it'll happen within the next hour.

Maybe? Certainly no more than 2 hours...

I hear bells. IDK if someone has a lullaby playing and didn't properly plug in their headphones or what. It's coming from somewhere to my right and not terribly far, but when I look over everyone just looks to be asleep. Weird.

Also I'm tucked between Ken, who's asleep (lucky guy!) and an older salaryman who may or may not be asleep. I'm awake because I only took one of my trazodone, as opposed to the 2.5 tablets I took last night. Seriously thinking about taking the rest, but there's only just over 5 hours left in the flight. We're expected to land at Haneda at 4:44am, a solid 21 minutes early from the scheduled time.

Time flies when you're having fun!

11:30pm is a better bedtime, so I'm gonna make a fresh attempt at sleeping, I think. Even if I don't get much, it'll be better than nothing, probably. I definitely won't make it another 24 hours without sleeping at least a little, and I'd rather that sleep be at a somewhat hour for our destination!

Goodnight and see you in ~10 hours!