Thursday morning David and I woke up about 2:00 a.m. to get ready to leave for the airport to begin our adventure to Japan. Our Uber driver arrived right on time to take us to the airport. We checked in and made it through security with no problems. We boarded our flight on time and flew to Chicago in about an hour and a half. When we landed breakfast was our first concern so we went to the Chili's restaurant and had omelets. After that we had about three hours before our flight to Tokyo so we headed to the United Airlines Club to relax. The attendant there suggested that we go to the new Polaris Club instead located in the terminal where our departing gate was located. What great advice! The Polaris Club is incredible! It is a huge club that provides relaxing seating and private work areas. It also has small suites for sleeping and showers too. There is a beautiful, large bar there and an amazing buffet of food. If you don't want to graze the buffet, you can sit at tables and order off a varied menu. And the best part is: it's all free! Boy were we sorry we had eaten breakfast at Chili's. Luckily we were there long enough to enjoy a few treats.
We almost hated to leave the Polaris Club but . . . . We boarded our ANA flight and got settled into our assigned cubicles. The seats were large and very private. David's seat was behind me so we could not talk to each other easily which I think he enjoyed on the long, 12-1/2 hour flight.
Before we could settle in for some sleep, tho, we were served dinner. As most of you know, I do not eat fish so luckily I was able to select filet of beef for my entree. The first two courses contained fish so I am posting pictures just so you can see how pretty they were.
The soup course was this lovely, buttery, creamy corn soup. Delicious!
I'm sorry I did not get pictures of David's gorgeous vegetarian meal. It was too awkward not sitting next to each other.
Then it was time to settle in and sleep. Apparently David got up once or twice so he decided to take this picture. I was very comfortable!
It's really hard to say how long we slept. I think I slept 7 or 8 hours. David maybe not as long. The flight seemed to pass quickly and all of a sudden the flight attendant was asking me what I wanted to eat. She offered smoked fish, etc., which I turned my nose up at and then she suggested Udon noodles with deep fried tofu. I agreed to that and ate just a little bit of the noodes and broth. It was very good.
David was served his special, vegetarian meal and he loved it. I have to say it did look very good!
When we deplaned in Tokyo, it was the usual following the crowd to immigration, picking up our suitcases and then going through customs. It went fairly quickly. When we exited the baggage area there was a driver standing in the crowd holding up a sign with our names on it. He led us to the car and drove us to our hotel which was about an hour's drive.
When we arrived at the hotel we were met by our tour leader, David, who welcomed us and just basically helped us check in. He gave us information about where to meet the rest of the group the following evening. He even gave us some suggestions for things to do the next day before the tour actually started. We told him we were interested in visiting the Tokyo National Museum and he gave us directions to get there on the subway and subway passes.
The hotel was large -- 28 floors. Our room was on the 18th floor and we had an amazing view!
We were very sleepy but we wanted to stay up awhile so we went to the bar on the 26th floor. I had a gin and tonic and David had his first Sake.
After one drink we could not keep our eyes open so we went back to our room and went to sleep. We could hardly wait for the next day!
I'm just reading this now -- a few days late -- and I was going to ask whether you airline ticket upgrade was worth it. However, just looking at the pictures tells the story. I have never considered paying extra for space and comfort but . . . . Is it a sign of age?
ReplyDeleteHmmmm,hard to answer that question. Yes! It was great flying business class. So much more enjoyable. I did rest very well. But . . . it is so expensive that we cannot do it very often. Unless we can upgrade with air miles. And I'm sure age has a lot to do with it.
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