the first leg... All Nippon Airways

we chased the sun all night long and there was never darkness
chicago to tokyo
a long ride but long is relative...
people have horror stories about airports and travel...
my arrival here to bangkok was as smooth as frank's crooning.
no lines at detroit metro and a nice transition into 12 hours over tokyo

all three flights i was the wing man... that is i sat near a window right
over a wing each time. what old tiger stadium would have called
"obstructed view"
window seats are only worth it for take off and landing anyway... i would choose the aisle for future ventures. it was 1995 the last time i was overseas...
budapest
nowsadays each seat has a television and radio screen and all sorts of distraction. i sat next to a japanese woman on the half a day flight, we were portraits of politeness. we spoke only in excuse me's. i dozed in and out of sleep while charting our progress on the flight map. i had a tinge of sadness while flying over edmonton... after last year's run they didn't even make the playoffs this april. i spent other time watching CSI and reading short stories by Julio Cortazar... a brilliant argentinian writer given me (of course) by l'aro. a particularly great story was called "The Gates of Heaven." about seven and half hours in i got up and walked around a bit. in an open area by the lavatory i did some stretching and exercise. it must have been a sight seeing my large frame doin fosse like hip isolations and shoulder thrusts (huff and nira would have been proud). midway through my stretches a monk passed by in folded orange robes and small round glasses, he said: "please to excuse me" and smiled. he also wore a crochetted cap like the new alternative kids. i smiled and bowed... it made me think of david carradine in Kung Fu. soon it was the next afternoon and we had never lost the sun. we descended on the blue roofs of japan and all i could think of was the way charles emerson winchester the third said: "TOKYO"

--vikingo