Day 4 FF Western Tokyo Homestay, WTRD 49 of 49, October 22, 2017

Prelude to Typhoon Lan - a True Water Color

Sayonara Japan - Hello California

It rained steadily all night.  We arose early to take care of last minute packing,  blogging, and printing of boarding passes. Yukiko served us coffee, sausages, green beans, and fruit for breakfast.  Takashi ate a single piece of toast with melted cheese for his breakfast.  Yukiko commented that in their household, they usually at  bread for  breakfast, noodles for lunch, and rice for dinner.  

Even though our plane flight was at 4:55 pm, we were walking out the front door with umbrellas and bags at 10:25 am.  It would take an hour to drive to the bus station, and two hours by bus to the airport.  We bade our heartfelt goodbyes with promises to keep in touch and to visit one another.  Yukiko suggested we come back during cherry blossom time, and we could rent the wonderful traditional Japanese house together that Russ and I stayed in while we were in Hakone.  We waved good bye through rain soaked windows of the bus as we drove away.

A Japanese Watercolor

We arrived at the airport about 1:15, and had a couple of hours to spare.  When we arrived the terminal was nearly empty.  Was it the typhoon?  Would our plane be on time?  Turned out we were just early for and international flight, and any worries we had about getting to the airport melted.

We breezed through baggage drop, security clearance, immigration and were eating lunch next to our gate by 2:00 pm. and saw our inbound Tokyo flight from SFO arrive at 2:25.  

An army of people were on hand to meet the Dreamliner, carry out garbage, linens, and empty food containers. Cart trains came out to unload luggage and once that was done the same amount of effort, if not more went into reloading all of the supplies, servicing, and cleaning, while two fuel trucks loaded the tanks.

Our plane left the gates exactly on time.  By 5:00 pm the wind was picking up and the nose of the typhoon was edging its way up the coast.  I was a little anxious because of thunder and lightning forecast. We waited on the tarmac for clearance for an hour. 

As it turned out, there was a little, but not a lot of turbulence upon take off.  We headed north than arced to the east.

A little over nine hours later, we arrived safely the morning of the same day we had left Tokyo in the afternoon.

Our plane heads east Sunday evening and catches the dawn of the same day

The Golden Gate - Always a Welcome Sight

South Bay Salt Flats

So ends, our wonderful two month adventure to. South Korea and Japan.  

We had a great time, and we are  grateful that we maintained excellent health and energy throughout the journey.  Never once did we fear for our safety. Everyone we met reinforced our faith humanity and the power of friendship.

Heh! Heh!  We are also glad that this is our last blog, perhaps you are too, until our next trip.

All is Well with With the Worrall Travel R’s sleeping in our own bed tonight.