Long Day...

What an incredibly long and tiring day of travel it has been. Starting out in Regina and traveling through Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver before even leaving for Tokyo. Using Aeroplan points is a great way to save money on airfare but what a run-around getting to the ultimate destination. I can honestly say that we will never travel like that again on a long-haul route. It is just simply way too tiring going through all of those various airports.

Our arrival in Vancouver was quite interesting. I have never ever seen so much snow in Vancouver. The storm that hit there on Christmas Eve must have indeed been massive. The runways had been cut from the snow banks that must have been at least 3 feet deep -- that really wet, heavy type of snow. Our flight leaving Vancouver was delayed by an hour, no doubt as a result of the airport having to clear out hundreds of flights from the day before. It must certainly have been 'travel hell' for those Christmas travelers going through Vancouver yesterday. I don't envy those people at all.

The most amazing part of the trip from Canada was the fact that Air Canada (notorious for losing luggage) did not misplace our bags! I was surprised, shocked, and extremely pleased when I saw both of our suitcases arrive on the baggage carousel in Narita Airport What a relief. Kudos to Air Canada...

It is quite cold here in Tokyo at this time of year. As soon as we got off of the plane I could feel the cold air. It was 0C yesterday evening when we arrived. I don't know why I was expecting something different. It's not like we've arrived in a tropical destination. But, I was hoping that it would be warmer than this. I do need to keep in mind though that it is currently around -17C for highs in Regina right now so this is actually paradise. 6C highs today!!

I've also learned something new this morning that is very disappointing. The Kodak digital camera that I have is incompatible with my mini laptop. The laptop runs on a Linux operating system and no Kodak cameras run on Linux thus I can't transfer the photos that we are taking. I'll update the travel blog with photos once I get to Toyama and have access to a Windows computer. Pitty...

Narita Airport hotdog man basting in his own ketchup

Now... Time to go out to Ginza and do some shopping!