Apologies for the long delay in posting! We had an unusually busy December wrapping up our Christmas shopping and social obligations before we flew to California for the holidays. It was nice to get back out to Kansai airport in Osaka for an easy trip. They still have daily non-stop flights to San Francisco. We were able to stop at the restaurant after we passed through security to have a celebratory cocktail. One thing we noticed after traveling through several airports this trip is that Kansai airport doesn’t really have a good airport bar. They have restaurants that serve drinks, but no place to belly up and enjoy a cocktail. In other airports (especially international ones) there is at least one bar open 24 hours, but for some reason Kansai airport didn’t get the memo. Get on it KIX!
The flight was smooth and we rode on a new 787, so there were some pretty modern amenities and technology. We sat in the middle and aisle seat, blocking in a mother who was traveling with her three teenagers. They sat ahead of us, and she kept them informed of travel info that she felt was important. During the 8 1/2 hour flight she never once got up to use the rest room, even after two waters and two beers. Whoah.
As for our stay in California, it was everything that we’d hoped it would be. We spent a lot of time with family, and I was especially happy to finally meet my niece Maya, and also spend lots of time with Charlie. They are good kids, and they were pretty active most of the time. They had lots of down time with their digital devices, so I think that gave everyone a break from entertaining them now and then.
My folks had a rough year last year, but they were in great form and did a nice job hosting everyone. We tried to keep our visit (and our visitors) as light as possible to minimize the stress on everyone, and I think it worked out. My Dad even cooked a lemon meringue pie for us – one of my requests. It was just as delicious as I remembered, and I ended up having three pieces in two days. Yum!
Christmas morning was little kids tearing apart presents, and it had been a long time since I had experienced that – the last time I was the little kid tearing them open.
A couple of days after Christmas we drove up to Sacramento airport and took a flight down to San Diego to spend a couple of days with Nancy, Lynn and Kinsey. As it turned out, they had some guests already – Roger, Mark and their friend Thomas were staying for a few days. Thomas works at Mark’s company, and he is a German guy living in Switzerland and he’s in the process of taking a six month holiday to travel around the world – literally. His stop in San Diego was just before the next leg to Hawaii, New Zealand, and Australia. We might have a chance to host him when he gets to Japan near the end of February. He was a great guy, with a unique sense of humor.
In San Diego we packed in a lot of activities – a dinner party with some friends from long ago, trips to two breweries (Bolt and the Belching Beaver), a day in Tecate Mexico eating delicious food and shopping in Mexican supermarkets, and even a dinner at Hodad’s which really brought back memories for me and for Kuniko. It was tough to say goodbye to Nancy, Lynn and Kinsey at the end of the short stay, but great to see them happy and healthy in San Diego.
On the flight back to Sacramento I was really struck by the security level in the United States airports. It was much tighter than Russian airport security, and for the first time in years we had to take off our shoes going through the gates. And this was on a domestic flight… wow! I’m sure they have prevented lots of attacks but it seemed a little on the extreme side for me.
We enjoyed a quiet New Year’s party, solved a diabolical jigsaw puzzle, enjoyed great food prepared by both Mark and Susan as well as my parents, and even had a chance to take my folks out to dinner at the Swiss Hotel. Mission accomplished!
It sounds like my folks will be traveling to Japan at the end of April/beginning of May this year, so it won’t be long before we see them again. It was a great holiday visit, and now it is back to our routine in Japan!
