HOME SWEET HOME

I hate the trip back from the Orient.  It's always overnight, and I can't sleep on flights.  Now and then I've actually continued to go around the world to avoid this leg.

What made it worse this time was that I had to awaken at 4:30AM.  Plus, I was still coughing, the afteraffects of the flu/cold I overcame with Advil.  I felt okay, but, still, catching the bus at 6AM when the temperature was 4 below zero (28 F) is not my idea of fun.

However, it can be worse.  The bus made around 10 stops on the way to Incheon Airport, and people were waiting in that sub-freezing environment.  By the last pick-up the bus was just about full.

Asiana check-in was smooth and quick.  Went to their lounge and had a light breakfast of kim chee ramen, corn soup, fried pork dumpling and something that looked like chow fun.

I tried to make a Bloody Mary, and all the ingredients were there except for tomato juice.  So I used orange juice.   I'll call it an Orange Mary.  It will become an acquired taste.  They have a full bar for breakfast:

My plane:

I had my third breakfast on this flight (I started in my Sheraton room with a raisin bread/butter and coffee).  Truffles mushroom rice porridge:

The porridge was fabulous, with a glass of champagne.  The movie, The Terror Live, was okay.  Rotten Tomatoes audiences gave it a 73 rating.

Approaching Narita, I looked to my right and saw Mount Fuji:

  

Almost reminiscent of Fuji-san by Hokusai Katsushika. The highlight of the day was expected to be the ANA Lounge, and it was.  I had to wait here 8 hours for my United flight back to Honolulu.  This is a very large club with sleeping and shower rooms.  The assortment of Japanese cuisine is exceptional.   I had my fourth breakfast:

Their liquor collection for breakfast had more variety:

I had their Suntory Chita, Suntory AO, real Bloody Mary using the Smirnoff, junmai daiginjo sake and Asahi Dry.   In case you were counting, those drinks add up to a world record for breakfast.  However, these were more taste tests and for show.   I reported on Suntory AO in August:

Having come this far, I would like to introduce you to Suntory Ao, meaning blue in Japanese.  The symbolic meaning refers to the fact that they have combined the products of five distilleries around the world they own--Japan, plus Scotland, Ireland, Canada and the USA--from throughout the blue ocean.  The reality is that their Japan distilleries are at the peak of production, so they now can sell the Suntory name with products from other countries who can make this product cheaper and make a lot more money.

The price for this bottle was supposed to be less than $50.  However, Dekanta has it on sale for $199.99.  How can they charge so much?  They have a supply, being the only online distributor from Japan.  My advice?  Wait until Ao arrives in your local stores.

AO is much smoother than Chita.  I bought a bottle of AO for around $40 in the duty free shop.  There was a 10% off offer.

Later in the afternoon, a sushi-maker appeared, so I had my second meal in the ANA Lounge.
four (went back for two more) maguro sushi and hot-sour soup.

It's amazing how time flew by.  The eight hours felt like two.

Boarded United and barely stayed awake for a decent Japanese dinner:

Saw a third Korean film, Another Child.  Again, disappointing.  I then actually went to sleep.  Must have dozed off for 3 hours.

Finally, 22 hours after I awoke in Seoul...Honolulu.  That white circle is a full moon, with the yellow part the reflection in the ocean, plane engine to the left and Honolulu city lights in the middle, processed through an app to make it look artsy.

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