Tokyo, Japan -- evening

I'm here in Asia! It's 5:38 p.m. and I just finished eating a bowl of udon with shredded beef at a small restaurant near my departure gate in Narita Airport. My flight to Bangkok should begin boarding in about half an hour, with a scheduled 7:00 p.m. departure time.

I'm realizing now that it's a bit hard to concentrate, quite certainly as a result of travel fatigue. Due to my normal last minute preparations, I didn't get to bed until just before 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday night. Part of that, though, I must say, was due to watching Barack Obama's historic victory speech on television. It was about 11 p.m. when ABC news projected that he had won enough votes to win the presidential election. Then, at midnight eastern time, after John McCain's gracious concession speech, followed by plenty of commentary by the news anchors, Obama took the stage in Chicago's Grant Park.

Anyway, by the time I was done watching that, then shaved, packed, and took a shower, it was nearly 3:30 a.m. My alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. And that's when things got moving, up until and still through the present time.

After breakfast and last-minute check of everything, I walked to 30th Street Station. I had to wait a little over half an hour to get onto an 8:30 a.m. train heading north to Newark-Liberty Airport. Even then, I recall feeling tired. And now, my eyes feel tired, and as of the last time I looked in a mirror, they're a little bit red.

On top of the travelling, though, the jet lag may have much to do with my fatigue. While its already Thursday evening here, the sun having set earlier as I was running around between Terminals 1 & 2, back in Philly it's still Thursday morning; I imagine the sun will be rising there very soon.

The flight from Newark to Tokyo was a direct, 13.5 hour flight; it covered 6830 miles, nearly halfway around the globe. Surprisingly, though, the flight didn't seem so long, mainly because I was in and out of sleep almost the entire time. When I didn't have my eyes closed, I did about ten pages worth of reading, I ate two in-flight meals and a snack, and I listened to some music on my iPod.

Well, I should get packed up here since boarding should begin soon, and I ought to move closer to the gate. Next time I write, I'll have to re-count how I tried to find Paul here in Narita, but was ultimately unsuccessful. I really would have liked to have seen him, since travelling solo like this, especially for so many hours on end, tends to depress me just a little bit. Then again, that probably has much to do with the fatigue too. But hey, I can now say I've been to Asia! Alright, off to Bangkok.