Seems like every trip we go on lately starts at ‘O-Dark Thirty’ as was this mornings departure. Up at 5:00AM!

Like many trips the ‘getting there’ is always the toughest part. This one will be no exception with over 30 hours of travel, 22 hours of it in the air.

18 degrees this morning so, before we left MSN for Denver, the plane needed to be de-iced. We were bathed in a slurry that looked liked ice tea!

But what a difference two hours west can be as we landed in Denver to to balmy 44 degree temps.

The wide open prairies of the front range . . .

. . . outdoor deplaning . . . nice. It can only get warmer as we head west. High of 92 yesterday in Jakarta.

Our  ride to the east, at least as far as Tokyo, would be one of the new Dreamliner 787’s. Nice. Mostly carbon and composite construction, this ‘fly by wire’ plane has lots of great creature comforts. Interestingly,  the viewing windows are an LCD window, that as soon as you are airborne, turn a dull grey making it look like dusk outside, even thought it’s blue sky. That, combined with the soft interior lighting, makes one feel like a fetus inside the womb floating around not knowing if it is day or night. Even the bathrooms have a soft blue light that makes you feel you are stepping into the twilight zone, until you lock the door and the harsh reality of while LCD light blast you. Felt like you could get get a sunburn if you stayed in their too long.

As we settled into our Economy Class seats you could look ahead and see how the business class world lives. In front of them of course was First Class with their little cocoon type enclosures. Reminded me of baby carriages for adults . . . looked very comfy!

Lots of entertainment potential with over 60 movies to watch. Something for everyone . . . I watched three before napping!

. . . which turned out to be quite easy. We purchased an upgrade termed, “Economy Plus’ . . .

. . . which basically gave one about 9 inches more of legroom. Very nice . . . fully reclined and stretched out, my legs came no where near touching the seat in front of me. If you are over 6 feet tall it is definitely worth the extra cost . . . especially on a 12 hour flight like this one to Tokyo. Our flight to Tokyo was long and uneventful taking us on a great circle route through Canada, Alaska on down into the Pacific rim. Feeding us was constant, however no free liquor on international flights anymore with United, at least in Economy Class.

We landed in Tokyo to 58 degrees and very heavily ladened skies. Could not see the runway until we just about made contact with it. Had an hour or so to look around . . .

Warnings about buying counterfeit goods . . .

. . . warnings about buying items made from endangered resources . . .

Health warnings lost in translation .  .  .

. . .except for this one!!!!

After a two hour layover we were on the plane for our next leg to Jakarta. Problem was the fog was so thick it backed everything up two hours. After a short delay,the captain announced we were number thirty for take off and it took the next two hours of sitting on the tarmac before it was wheels up.

emJay and I were not initially seated together so requested a seating reassignment, which went through very easy. That and the fact the waiting room didn’t seem that full, lead me to believe the plane might not be full. And it wasn’t .  No more had the doors been shut when those of us looking to recline began moving around claiming vacant center aisle seating, consisting of three empty seats. I got three right next to our original two seats and settled in!!!

Thee seats, three pillows and blankets, ear plugs and a black out mask . . . plus two sleeping pill. I slept the first two hours on the tarmac while we waited for the fog to lift!

. . . and after a nice meal, slept several more hours arriving at 3:00am in Jakarta, fairly well rested! It was 79 degrees!!! Our driver, Imron, had patiently waited for us and whisked us to our hotel in downtown Jakarta. Although we had been warned the traffic in Jakarta is terrible, and never rent a car or try to drive yourself around, it wasn’t too bad at 4:00am talking only 1/2 hour to get to our hotel. Even Jakartans need to sleep sometime!

. . . big bed . . .

. . and big bathroom

The Indonesians are evidently very space conscious (Jakarta has a population of over 10 million). No room for a bidet in the bathroom. But . . . notice the faucet handle on the left side of the toilet . . .

. . . controls a little, after market add on, ‘fountain’ in case one just wants to take a little ‘spritz bath’. Very clever!

. . . and it finally time to rest our heads on terra firma, the first time we could entirely stretch out for the last 32 hours.  It was 5:00am and the question was whether to stay up an hour and have breakfast, which started being served at 6:00am or turn in now . . .

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.