It was an interesting start to the trip. Barbara Winikoff was giving us a ride to the airport - MUCH earlier than originally planned. Our flight had been changed from 8:50 to 7:30 in the morning. I only learned of the change when I went to print our boarding passes.
When Barbara got to the gate at the entrance to our community, the guard must have been sleeping and didn't respond to the car horn. Barbara called us and I called the gate hoping the telephone would wake the guard. It did! First problem solved.
Our plane from West Palm pulled into gate D18 in Dallas. We were told that our flight to Los Angeles would leave from gate C18 which is quite a trek from where we deplaned. So, we got the Airlink to C terminal, got settled in the Admiral's Club when I got an automated phone call from American Airlines saying our flight to Los Angeles was departing from gate D18. What could be more fun than traveling around DFW on the Airlink?
After a two night stay in the LA area - one night in San Diego visiting Judy and the next day visiting Irwin and Andrea - it was off to Japan. Our flight was scheduled for 12:05 afternoon departure and it left right on time. We flew American Airlines first class and it was VERY comfortable. The pictures below give some idea of the room for each passenger. The seats go completely flat and make into a bed which I did use. The flight was so smooth that most of the time it was hard to tell that we were moving.
Ray and Yasuko arrived at the hotel about an hour and half after we did. Then it was off for our first Japanese dinner. Because of the time, we ate in one of the hotel restaurants. Tomorrow we are off on the first leg of the trip - to Monbetsu.
