Sushi Dai

After careful consideration and going two days in a row - I would like to declare once more that Sushi Dai is the best sushi in the world.

Yes - that's all for this post!

Northwest 1 to Tokyo

Well, finally I was able to cash in my Delta miles to get to Tokyo non-stop! I took advantage of the original joint operating agreement between Northwest and Delta back in June and booked a round trip Business Elite reward ticket on Northwest. I reserved window seats in row 77 - which is the exit row in the upper deck. Very roomy and Seat Guru's # 1 option.

The time came for me to fly today - and I have to say that Northwest does a pretty good job. I was on an upgraded 747-400 with new "near" flat seats. Like British Airways, I found the seat to have two problems: 1. I'm too tall and the footrest is painful; 2. I found the seat a little too hard. Those two things aside, I had a lovely trip. Row 77 is very nice and roomy.

The food was much better than United - even United International First Class. I had the steak and everything was wonderfully prepared and presented. I did find the flight attendants to be English speaking only - with one Japanese speaker who seemed to be translating for the entire plane from what I could tell. Not a problem for me, but some of the Japanese passengers struggled.

The entertainment options seemed quite dated - with Hell Boy 2 being what seemed to be the feature film. Additionally, the game options were not good at all. I brought my Mac on board and was ready to plug into the never failing air power - but they had AC in the seat. Getting plugged in was clumsy - as you have to insert and twist at the same time. My power adapter is just not made for that! The power died a few times - and my battery became drained - leaving me no entertainment options to speak of about 5 hours into the flight.

After passing the time napping a bit and reading, we arrived in Tokyo about 4:25 PM. I sprang to action, managing to get down the stairs from the upper deck and quickly made my way to immigration by using stairs instead of escalators. I arrived first and was quickly welcomed into the country. Baggage always arrives fast in Tokyo so I was quickly through customs.

I rented a mobile phone this year in Japan - as opposed to renting it in the US before I departed. The ABC mobile place provides a service with FREE incoming calls - which is really nice! I then made my way down to the JR station and caught the 5:14 PM Narita Express to Tokyo Station. 

At 6:45 PM I arrived at the Courtyard Tokyo Ginza Hotel! (Must be some kind of record!)

The Joy of the Equinox

The Equinox Fitness finally opened in the South Bay - and this is very exciting news. The one thing missing in my life was the club experience at the Lifetime Fitness I used to work out at in Phoenix. Once my project ended, so did my visits to the Lifetime and the sought after club experience.

Now, I have it all back!