Donate
Your donation will be used to maintain and improve this site.

2008.06.08 (Sun) - San Francisco, Day 1, Pt.1

11:00 - Take a bus to Narita from Shinyuriga-oka. 12:30, Arrive at Narita Airport, Terminal 1. About 50 minutes earlier than scheduled. I think I may have better taken the bus one after.

14:00 - Check in: Northwest Airlines. I've already done the online check-in and I have no luggage to check, so I only have to let them scan my passport. Quick.

Meal, walking. I took the option to go with no check-in bag and two carry-on bags, and I start to feel those two bags are a drag. Think I should buy a large luggage when I get to SF and I'll check that in on my way back. 16:00 - Take off. 9 hours of flight from now.

23:00 - About 30 minutes of continuous rocking. I feel sick. 1:00 (US time 09:00), Arrive at SFO, San Francisco International Airport. It's morning at the time to go to bed for me usually.

(US time from now on)
9:30 - Have a little trouble at the Arrival and Custom at the airport. Being asked numbers of question about the high amount of money I had in traveler's checks, to open a US bank account. Questions such as "Why not a Japanese bank?" "What's your job?" "Aren't there other purposes for your carrying that money?"

10:30 - Take a bus to the City. 25 minutes, 4 dollars. Huge difference from 2 hours/3000yen of Narita-Tokyo. 11:00 - Get off at the crossing of Mission St and 5th St, with help by a madam next seat. Walk to the hotel. The roads are dirty. I guess I chose a kind of ghetto-ish area, because it's cheap.

11:30 - Arrive at Hotel Monarch. I'd already pardoned the bad naming sense. I'm told that the check in only starts at 15:00, plainly. I wasn't told that beforehand. Since it's Sunday and banks are closed, and I'm not crazy about wandering around this neighborhood with all this money, I'm sort of embarrassed. There is a piano at the lobby, so I play it. Nice guts from the first day in the continent.

Bored with the piano, I decide to go for a walk. Find a Chinese restaurant and walk in. Have Fried Rice for $6.50. Huge. Welcome back to America. (Next)

Recent Entries

Selected Archives