Flight from PDX -> LAX: caught up on some sleep; not bad of a flight! (especially with the aisle seat! (my preferred option).
Flight from LAX -> NRT (Narita Intl. Airport): even though it was a 10 – 11 hr flight… honestly, it was decent – it’s been a long while since I’ve flown on Singapore Airlines, and man…they’ve definitely upgraded some stuff:
The built in monitors are a lot bigger now than when I remembered back when I used to travel with my family to see relatives + extended family in Malaysia + Singapore.
They even have a menu! (and for Economy!) Times have changed, and (as a usual economy flyer) we’re starting to get some of the perks that business + first class are getting! (I hope haha…obviously, they’re going to always have the better perks and stuff, but still!)
I ended up catching up on some Luigi’s Mansion 3 (a very good game on the Nintendo Switch) + the following films:
- “Kings of Beer” – Nice documentary about brewmasters competing for the championship of best brewmaster (through who can make the best version of the American Lager – Budweiser). In the film, I got to see my old professor (Dr. Charles Bamforth) talk about beer for a bit (I took his “Introduction to Beer” class back in my college days at UC Davis. One of the judges, Jane Killebrew (that’s a pretty awesome name btw) is a brewmaster who graduated from UC Davis! I spent time watching this documentary even though I don’t drink beer anymore… AND I was drinking red wine thru it… haha the irony. Vina Borgia (2018). Not bad.
- “Against All Odds” – Second documentary that I watched from the plane. Really good one about Team OG from DOTA 2 (aka Defense of the Ancients 2 | PC game). Good underdog story.
- “Detective Conan – The fist of blue Sapphire” – YES! Detective Conan! I’m a big fan of the anime, and it was dope to watch this on the plane – interesting plot, and I should catch up on the other Detective Conan movies!
- “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”: Star-Studded cast! Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, & Margot Robbie?! Hell yeah! Decent film overall. This was the last thing I watched right before the plane landed in Narita.
Fortunately, I was able to catch a little bit of sleep in between watching films and the airplane meals. For those who don’t know – I’m notoriously known to be the worst at sleeping – I usually wake up early in the morning (anytime between 5-6am on work days… AND even on the weekends: yeah I know, what is wrong with me hahaha); I can’t sleep in for the life of me… I usually average about 5-6 hours a night, and that’s just how my body has gotten used to for a while now. I know it’s not healthy… and some of my immediate coworker friends have teased, joked, and got on me for it (which I’m glad they are, because I’m starting to get better with it).
Anyway! Enough of that side tangent haha…back to Day 0 – I didn’t show it externally, but internally, I was very excited and super hyped to be in a different country. Before we touched down in Narita, I thought about the times when my parents saved up enough money for us to make trips overseas (whether it be to visit family in Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore, or to explore unfamiliar territory like some of the countries in Europe such as England, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France).
They never explicitly said this, but they made it a point to me that traveling to other countries is important not only to meet, hangout, and get to know extended family, but also to experience how people live their daily lives in different cultures, and how we can take bits and pieces of that and better our own lives. Sure, the different kinds of food is always exciting to experience for the first time, but seeing the world in different perspectives (through the eyes of many) helps broaden and open our worlds to become more accepting and empathetic with people.
To be honest, I did not think much about how seeing the world in other peoples’ shoes would ultimately help me to be more accepting and empathetic with people until I was more mature enough and older to understand that concept – when I was a lot younger (and especially when seeing extended family for the first time), I was just focused more on being accepted and hope that people would actually like me (given that I had this anxiety of thinking that I’m too much of an oddball for people to even like).
With that being said, I hope that this trip can help me continue to get a glimpse of life through the locals’ lens, even if it’s just through something like small talk.
Cheers / wave
Listen to what you see. 