Narita, Briefly

Just. Got. Home.

So happy. :)

I bought a one-way ticket from Taipei to New York on Delta Airlines, which had a brief layover at Narita Airport in Japan. Firstly, I want to declare that it's a crime that one-way tickets are priced almost the same as round-trip tickets. I'm pretty good at hustling when it comes to buying things (i.e. always check for online coupons when you purchase stuff off the internet!), so when I had to book my flight back home I used an ISIC student discount from Delta. Instead dishing out ~$1,000, I paid ~$600, which is still an arm and a leg and maybe an eyeball for poor 'ol me. Then, because both of my check-in luggages ended up extremely overweight, I was fined an additional $100. GAH! Serves me right for having a billion pairs of shoes. Oh, I love shoes.

I know that as an American there's this concept of "supporting our national industries", but sorry... Delta is a piece of crap airline. What airline does not have in-flight entertainment on international 13+ hour long-haul trips?! What is this latex/rubber covering over the seats?! Shitty rolly-eye stewardess service?! I felt like I was on Chinatown Bus in the Sky. The tiny flickering CRT televisions stapled on the ceiling 30 feet away definitely completed the effect.

Speaking about Chinatown, I thought I was going to die when a Chinese couple with a 7 month baby sidled up and settled in next to me. I offered them my aisle seat and they seemed pretty grateful since Doodoo Delta didn't provide the infant carriage that they had requested (the baby slept on the trays the entire flight). Fortunately, this squishy dumpling-faced dude was an absolute saint and didn't cry at all. It must be karma! Chinese babies are also tough and bad-ass. :)

The couple and I hit it up pretty well and they said that I should visit them in Beijing. The mom kept on sharing her peanuts with me, shoving me so many generous handfuls that I had to dump them into the barf bag. I really don't like peanuts, but I felt obliged to eat them every time she threw me an encouraging smile. Interestingly, the reason why they were visiting the States was because they wanted an out via a green card in case "China goes downhill". The dad, who had really beefy arms and I learned later was named Flex, freely talked about how government officials in China are all uncontrollably corrupt, how the smaller towns in China were now built more beautifully than Beijing/Shanghai, and how it was extremely hard to get a college education. Well, all that was very reassuring seeing how I'm trying my best to get into China whereas they're scrambling to get out.

While waiting at Narita, I learned a couple of interesting facts from an cartoon-themed airport show! The Japanese never cease to entertain me with their quirky factual programs.

1. Do the pilot and co-pilot eat the same kind of meal on the airplane?

No! It's to prevent food poisoning. (It must has happened enough in the past for this to be a rule...)

2. Why do we always exit and enter from the left on an airplane?

It's a custom carried over from the structure of a boat, which often times has its rudder positioned on the right. Like boats, airplanes also have "cabins" and "captains".

3. Why do the lights turn off in the cabin when airplanes prepare for a nighttime landing? (I always wondered about this one.)

To help passengers get accustomed to the dark in case there's an emergency, where the exits and aisle strips will light up.

Airplane-tested chicken pox Miffy t-shirt.