Back in Japan

I managed to arrive in the tail end of a typhoon, which is way better than arriving in the middle of one, but not as nice as arriving long after it has gone. The bus from the airport to the next bus was fighting the wind coming along the edge of the bay, which didn't not help the post flight, travel and tiredness-related nausea, I can tell you. But, I made it back all in one piece, with all my luggage, always a bonus, and with no recollection who all the sweets I brought back with me were intended for. Probably me, thinking about it.

It was a pretty long journey, with a 6 hour layover in Kuala Lumpur airport, which hadn't changed since the last layover last month, surprisingly, and yet disappointingly, enough. I got to the gate good and early, so I wouldn't be that person running on to the plane at the last minute, mumbling something about looking all over Duty Free for that perfume, and annoying everyone by trying to cram altogether too much hand luggage into the cupboard thing. Oh, no, I would not be that person.

Next thing I knew, the airport staff were waking me up, asking me if I wanted to get on the flight. "Of course I do, silly, I already gave you my ticket and had my bags X-rayed," I thought. And then I looked around. Where had everyone gone?

I had been asleep for an hour and all of the passengers had boarded, except Sleeping Beauty here. How did that even happen? A plane load of people walked past me and I didn't notice?! How's that for "Dead to the World"?

So, then I had the embarrassment of not only being the last person on (actually, there was one reprobate who was later than me because he was in Duty Free, but I didn't know about him at the time) and knowing that they had all walked past me, conked out and probably snoring. Not me finest pose, I can tell you.

I reacted with my customary charm, apologised a million times to the man in the aisle seat as I got up a few times to get "essentials" for the flight (well, you never know if you're going to run out of things to read, or need lip balm, or maybe tissues), although he might have been more accepting if I had gathered those things in my first attempt, instead of trying to climb over him to get to my bag several times.

Anyway, I'm back. And Japan thanks me for that.