Like I said in the last entry, I wasn’t expecting to sleep on this flight. I mean, the advantage of this is that I’ve never really had jetlag when I travel. All I have to do is muster up the will to stay awake until it’s nighttime wherever I’ve arrived. So yesterday I was awake for 30 hours, but uhhh no big deal, guys.
Anyway. Here’s a basic rundown of how I occupied myself on the plane:
- Stared out the window during takeoff and for at least half an hour after that*
- Watched The Tree of Life while taking breaks to stare out the window some more. It was one of those indie movies that takes itself waayyy too seriously, but it had potential. Whatever.
- Read a bit of Norwegian Wood
- Listened to this awesome new playlist that I made!
- Listened to Man of La Mancha all the way through. My parents always played this on long car trips and it never fails to bring tears to my eyes. (You know how embarrassing that is on a plane? Good thing the lights were dimmed.) It’s this recording if you guys are curious. Totally kick-ass.
- Read more of Norwegian Wood
- Watched Pirates of the Caribbean 4 — see, I had already expected this one to be bad (and indeed it was) but this was 8 or 9 hours into the flight and I didn’t have anything better to do.
- About 11 hours in, deeply regretted having eaten my snack around hour 6. Luckily they brought us our second lunch a little later 🙂
- Read even more of Norwegian Wood
And voila! It wasn’t even that bad.
*I get all romantic looking out the windows of planes. I’m fascinated by the patterns in the ways people have settled the land, carved out an existence in fertile valleys and left bare expanses of desert and mountain. The grandness of the Rockies (they felt so much closer to the plane than the flat land of Texas) was impressive until I saw clouds 100 times the size of a single peak. Mist clinging to the valleys, swaths of rainclouds shrouding the mountains, this stuff is way cool to me! Sadly they dimmed the lights and made us close the windows for all of the flight but the first and last hour…. I mean, who’s gonna sleep for 11 hours with the roaring of the pressurized cabin? You’d also miss out on the awesome airplane meals! (That’s actually 100% sincere, I love airplane meals.)
A gaijin in Japan 
It’s perfect because, if I remember correctly, Norwegian Wood starts off with a man in an airplane.
haha you’re right! Maybe I’m channeling his romantic journey!
i cannot believe you didn’t sleep at all! Dad and I were commenting on how great and non-sleep-deprived you looked in the photos — ah, to be young and resilient.