I Found a Heart in San Francisco

It was really strange to see a deserted San Francisco International Airport. It still took time to get through security. Not because they were doing any screening for coronavirus. That was a lie. There wasn't any. No, it was because they were bored and frisked almost every person. I had never been frisked ever when flying, until this trip. I don't know if they have a quota to fill, or just trying to show they were doing their job. So much for social distancing.

After getting out of customs with the crowds of bored workers standing around talking, it was a lot more spacious out in the terminal. I was tired but I tried to take a few photos. I guess seeing a Buddha without any other accouterments looked strange to me. Just sitting out in the open in the middle of a seating area. 

Lots of space to sit and eat but no restaurants were open. I couldn't even find an inexpensive bottle of water.

I did find a giant heart. I guess someone left it in San Francisco. (Sorry about the bad joke)

I also found an expensive N95 mask. I figured I might need it. Sad to say I was right.

I thought I would do a comparison of a US public restroom to the Japanese one. Surprise, they did block off the air hand dryers at the airport in San Francisco.

As for the carpet, not exciting. I have to say PDX definitely has better carpet.

I was out at the Alaska Airlines gates for my final flight. There were a few still flying that day.

Really empty flights. They were actually having Alaska Airline employees fill in some of the seats to make sure the weight was okay.

It was nice not to have to worry about having other passengers around me.

Also nice not to have to wait for the plane to take off. No runway traffic this day.

A bit of clear sky over San Francisco Bay. Still a lot of cargo ships heading out towards the Pacific ocean. 

Up over Oakland and the Bay Bridge. I've had fun driving over that bridge.

The island that sticks out from the bridge, that's Treasure Island.

The tiny island just right and a little above Treasure Island, that is Alcatraz. The larger island to the right is Angel Island. Beyond that is part of the main land north of San Francisco. Tiberon and Sausalito. Sadly the clouds were covering the Golden Gate Bridge, which would be just above Alcatraz in this photo.

More clouds along the way. I'm not sure what part of Northern California this was since so much was obscured. That might be Clear Lake, but I am not sure.

I do know that this landscape is from earthquake faults. 

And finally heading down through the clouds to land at Portland International Airport. A little sad since I have no idea when travel will happen again. I do miss going to places like Japan. But for now, we all just have to wait.

So Haneda Once Again

The day had arrived where I was suppose to fly back to Oregon. I tried to relax and enjoy these cute mini donuts from TAU Hiroshima. But the hotel forgot to tell the maid I was staying a little after regular check out. Given that I was the only guest on that floor, it seem a bit much that she kept pounding on my door. Finally the front desk apologized. It wasn't helpful, I was stressed because of the almost daily cancellations of flights by JAL, and the fact that I could not find any information as to what terminal my flight was leaving from. 

So I left early because of that, and because I had to change trains to get to Haneda International Airport. I reached the monorail station as planned, but when I asked a worker there which track I should be at, they told me the wrong one. More than once. I knew what direction the monorail would be coming from, since I had been at this station once before. So I picked that side, and I was right.

I wasn't right in guessing the terminal. And there were no information anywhere as to what gate the flight was leaving from. Thankfully the information person must have been prepared because she was able to tell me and explain what bus to take to get to the right terminal. Also it probably helped that there were very few flights that day. So eventually I made it back to the terminal where I had spent the night of March 11th, 2011. I didn't visit the shops where I slept that night, just saw them from below. Kind of fitting because it felt like another disaster trip.

Checking in and getting through security was pretty fast. No temperature checks, just asked me if I had been to China and one other place. The airport was almost empty. They did have cute displays in places though.

The play area was closed because of the virus. Since there weren't any children, I don't know if it would have mattered. Lots of social distancing this day.

There were some shops that were open. Just no customers.

I found my gate and I found a restaurant that was open. Curacion Cafe.

It was time for lunch and time for something good. Chicken curry, tsukemono pickles and a draft beer.

It was all good. 

I still had some time to wait. That was my gate and no one was there. But at least I made it to the airport without too many difficulties. So being a little early was okay.

I don't normally take photos in the bathroom, but I thought it was interesting to see what Japan was doing in regard to the virus. The air hand dryers are popular in public restrooms, but they had sealed them off from use.

And had installed an air cleaner system. Public health is serious in Japan.

Meanwhile, still waiting. So a few photos of the almost empty Haneda Airport. This was March 31st in the middle of the day.

I didn't forget to take a carpet photo.

The plane was waiting. The only flight by Japan Airlines to San Francisco that day. Only the second flight that week. With none going out of Narita Airport. That was a major reduction.

It was about tea time now, so I ate a little Hiroshima lemon cake. I also was carrying my Moi-même-Moitié bag with me. I didn't want to lose it.

Finally boarded the plane. Lots of space. Having a whole row of seats to myself, with no one in front or behind me. Everyone was wearing a face mask also. No delays with take-off, since there weren't many planes flying. Strange feeling, like it was another world. 

Since we were flying out of Haneda, the route was slightly different. And I got to see something special. The top of Mount Fuji above the clouds. That was nice because I had thought about going to a few places at Mount Fuji this trip, but because of the virus and the uncertainty of my flight, I did not. So seeing the mountain as I left was a bit sad, but also beautiful.

Back on the plane, service was excellent. I think because of the situation, we were given a little first class treatment. At least business class. I started with white wine and rice crackers.

Eventually lunch was served. This was a bento styled lunch created by a famous Japanese chef. It was very delicious. That's miso soup in the cup.

Several hours later, breakfast was served. I had trouble sleeping, in part because the disinfectant bothered my sinuses. I wore gloves for most of the flight, so it didn't bother my hands this time. The airline sprayed the interior of the planes with disinfectant in hopes of reducing viral spread. I ended up watching the new "Little Women" movie, which was nice.

I was tired, but I still enjoyed breakfast from Soup Stock with green tea to drink. It's funny, because I would pass by Soup Stock in Ikebukuro Station all the time, and it always smelled good. But I never ate there. My flight from Japan had small reminders of my times of being in Japan.

My last post will be about the second part of my trip back to Oregon.

Returning

As long as I am able to, I will be traveling to places I want to see. And those where I want to be. So at the end of November, I found myself back at Portland International Airport. Which is rated highly by many. I think because it's one of the more easier to figure out which way to go airports along with the vendors there keeping prices more in line with what is sold outside of the airport. Along with decent places to eat at like Tamale Boy. Breakfast was a Portland bowl without eggs this time.

While watching the planes roll by.

And there's my non-stop flight. Flying on a day before most people fly, it worked out for me.

Up in the air they made an announcement. Because below was Alaska. Without clouds.

Apparently, it's rare when Alaska is visible from the air, like this. Snow covered mountains and frozen glaciers for miles.

Meanwhile, I actually got the meal I wanted. I don't know why airlines are so bad with meal planning, but almost every flight I get stuck with having to eat something I don't want. This time it was miso salmon from Chef Naoko of Shizuka restaurant and MUJI bentos. Wonderful Japanese food at those places. This meal might not have looked like much, but it was delicious. Also I was happy to enjoy those little heirloom tomatoes.

Finally reached my destination. Japan.

More snowy mountains below.

Far away city in Hokkaido. Possibly Kitami.

Goodbye Hokkaido. Maybe one day I will see you from the ground.

And hello Iwate, Honshu. 

While I had been remembering the last time I was in Japan at this time, this flight down the coast was a lot like that flight on March 11th, 2011. Kamashi below.

Over Miyagi Prefecture and that's Kesennuma below. Thankfully this time nothing bad was happening below.

Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture. One day I want to explore the northern coast of Honshu. One day.

And after a short time in immigrations and customs and then a short wait for my train, I reached Ikebukuro in Tokyo. While it was early for it to be dark, the nice thing was I could see some illuminations from the train. Including one that isn't mentioned by most websites, but was extremely pretty and I knew I would want to see it. This was the view from my hotel room. Not the most exciting but better than having an office building directly opposite.