When work is not as pleasant as you could hope

This week I got up and left my home at 6:30 in the morning to take an early flight to Tokyo. I was scheduled to attend a meeting at Tokyo University. It was in some mysterious building far away from all subway stations so I had asked for tickets for the evening before but the administrative office told me that meetings that do not start really early mean you should take a morning flight. Evening flights look like you just want to go to Tokyo and have fun, so I had to buy an expensive morning flight ticket (not that it is my money, but still) and get their in a sleep deprived zombie state.

After arriving punctually to Haneda airport and asking the information there for the faster train changes to get to Tokyo University, and then using Google Maps and cell phone GPS I ended up reaching the meeting 10 minutes before we were about to start, so that went fine. During the meeting I noticed that the server back in Sapporo that I was supposed to use when presenting our system live was actually down. I got hold of one of my colleagues in Sapporo who confirmed that the problem was with the server (not just with my connection) but the only guy who can do something about server problems (because he does not let anyone else have such permissions) was away on a trip somewhere and could not be reached.

So I had to improvise a new presentation from scratch using old video clips, slides in English, and other random things related to our system that happened to be available on my laptop or on the machines in Sapporo that were still up. But the end result was not that bad. I was a little surprised that the Tokyo University does not allow guests to use their Internet (for the same reasons our server guy does not let anyone else access our servers, I guess), so I had to use tethering through my cell phone to download the things I needed for my presentation too.

Other people had worse problems. One guy never reached the meeting because he was coming here using the Shinkansen super express trains from Kyoto but someone had poured oil on the Shinkansen tracks and set them on fire, which stopped all the train traffic for many hours (and some people died).

I had some troubles when travelling too. In the early morning security check at the Sapporo airport, the X-ray staff asked me: "Do you have any more lighter on you?" Since I do not smoke, I was surprised that they thought I had even one. It turned out that I had a fork, a nail, and a lighter bundled up in my bag. I use the lighter to sterilize the nail before hammering it into my nose (using the fork). I did not expect there to be a need to hammer nails into my nose in Tokyo and had not thought to bring this kit, but since I got up too early I had apparently ended up bringing that stuff too. They told me it was OK to have up to 4 lighters with me, and the metal fork was OK too, so no problems.

On the way back, I was stopped at the security in Haneda airport too. They asked if the could X-ray my bag one more time. I said sure, of course (is "no" actually an option?). They then came and asked me if I had a nail in my bag, which I did, and asked me to take it out. They then asked me if they could X-ray the nail again. I said sure. So they X-rayed the nail and the fork and the lighter again. Then they asked me if they could measure the length of the nail. I had no objections, so they produced a tape measure and measured the nail a few times. They then informed that nails up to 6 cm are OK but this nail was 2 mm too long. So I would have to go and check the nail in as checked luggage. I was tempted to do that to see if it would arrive, considering this nail was very small (much smaller than the baggage tag, for example) but since I did not have much time before the last flight of the evening left, I said they could throw the nail away. I buy them in huge packs for almost nothing anyway.

So I made my return flight and got back to my house slightly before midnight. But with one less nail. This made me realize that you can actually jam the fork handle up your nose instead, though, so all in all some pretty useful information came out of this.

Leaving Las Vegas

On our last day in Las Vegas, we had to take a bus that left our hotel at 7 a.m., which was very early. I slept one and a half hour during the night, but my friends just skipped sleeping altogether.

We had JAL Pack tickets, which meant that a cute Japanese girl came and picked us up at our hotel and showed us which desk at the airport to check in at etc. One of my friends thought she was great, so he wanted to take a photo with her before we left. At the airport in LA there was an older, slightly overweight, man who helped us in the same way. I asked my friend if he wanted me to take a photo of him and this guy too, but he said that would not be necessary, haha.

I bought something that was a lot of fruits pulverized in a mixer and the mixed with yogurt for breakfast. As with most food in America, you got way more food than you needed. It was pretty good, though, and probably very healthy.

In the airplane, we got "okayu", kind of like rice porridge. Basically it is overcooked rice, with slight to no flavor. Here they had added some leek, shrimp, and ginger to give it a faint hint of flavor. Okayu is no bad, but I have never seen it in an airplane before.

On our way back to Narita airport outside Tokyo, we took a few weird turnarounds. It looks like the pilot is drunk, but I guess we arrived at a time where we could not get a landing slot immediately or something like that.

When leaving the plane, I noticed that someone was flying with a dog. The dog was just sitting around in the cabin. I have never seen a dog in a plane like that before. Mostly you see pets in small carry-on cages.

When leaving the hotel you did not have to do anything at all to check out. You did not even have to return the keys. So I now have a hotel key at home.

Flying is exciting

Some people who were on the same flight from Tokyo to Sapporo took photos of themselves in front of the plane. I am not sure if they just do not fly as much as I have to, or if the trip to Hokkaido was so exciting they document everything, but it is nice to see people who (presumably) travel for pleasure too.

Flying to Germany

On Sunday morning, we had to get up ridiculously early to fly to Germany for a conference. This time we did not have much travel money, so me and a colleague had to buy really cheap tickets. We ended up flying with Korean airlines (though our professor still flew with his more expensive and favorite airline).

Korean bibimbap

Korean Airlines was fine. The last time I flew with them they sent my bags to Tokyo but me to Sapporo. This time I did not have any luggage so there were no problems like that. The food was nice. The girl at the check-in counter at New Chitose Airport (the Sapporo airport) was super nice. The only downsides were that the staff in the plane kept talking to me in Korean (which I do not understand) all the time, that there was an "in-flight shopping good show space" and a bar counter instead of toilets in the back of the plane where I sat, that all the good snacks were always gone by the time they reached my part of the plane, and that the guy sitting next to me spread out into my seat too and was generally quite annoying (not the airlines fault, though). Everything else was good.

Not a toilet

Stairs to the upper floor, which had 90 business class seats.

We flew Sapporo-Seoul-Frankfurt, with only a 45 minutes stop in Seoul. We were a little worried that we would have to run to catch our flight, but even though there was an extra security check just for transferring too (and they decided to frisk me thoroughly too, for some reason) we had plenty of time. On the way back I had five and a half hours in the Seoul airport and was severely bored (but unlike Frankfurt airport they have free WiFi, so at least I had something to do). On my way home, I got even more thoroughly frisked in Frankfurt.

This spicy chicken dish was good

Our plane was huge compared to the other planes in the airport.

Between Seoul and Frankfurt we flew with an Airbus 380-800, which is a huge airplane. It was the first time I flew in such an airplane. I still like the Boeing 787 better, though.

Colorful airplanes

On my way back to Sapporo I saw a plane going to Okinawa that looked nice.

On my way from Sapporo to Fukuoka three days later, I saw a plane with Pokemon. I have ridden in one of the Pokemon planes, though not this one.

Sharing a plane to Osaka with a baseball team

I went to Osaka for my friend's wedding. The wedding was actually in Kobe, but the Osaka airport is quite close and it was easier to get tickets to Osaka airport than to the small Kobe airport. The wedding chapel was more or less in the middle between Osaka and Kobe anyway.

In Kobe they also have the Koshien baseball stadium, which is the most famous baseball stadium for high school baseball teams to play in. Pretty much now they have some form of national high school baseball tournament (in Europe we do not have baseball so I know nothing of baseball other that that you hit a ball with a bat and run around) and I shared a plane with one of the two teams representing Hokkaido in the national finals.

They lined up at the gate and everyone in the airport started taking photos, so I felt compelled to take some photos too. When we were landing, there was an announcement in the plane wishing them good luck, and the whole plane applauded. Apparently, baseball is a big thing here. Last I heard, this team from Otaru had done well and won their games so far.

To Sweden via Finland, Geisha chocolate

After one night in Tokyo I went to Sweden. Me and my friend flew with Finnair, so we got "Geisha" chocolate. The Finnish chocolate maker Fazer has a series of chocolate called Geisha, which apparently Finnair gives out on their flights from Japan. This series of chocolate is quite good, and it is popular in Sweden too.

Airplanes

I flew Sapporo-Tokyo-Paris-Montpellier on July 10. Then I flew Montpellier-Paris-Tokyo-France on July 13 (reaching Sapporo on July 14). I then got to spend one day in Sapporo before flying to Tokyo to spend the night and then get up really early to fly Tokyo-Helsinki-Stockholm.

You might think that going from France to Sweden would be smarter, but our university does not allow combining trips. If you have even one day of non-work somewhere during a trip, they refuse to pay conference fees etc. for you business days too. So I had to fly back to Japan to start my vacation and then go to Europe again.

To France

I am in France for two days of working. Since I actually have to work and since the Internet at my hotel is a bit slow, updates will come later. Here are two shots of the airplane food, though. It was pretty good.

Tit bit

In the airplane between Munich and Tokyo, they had "tit bits" in a cupboard. Not sure what that was.

Poland: Interesting airplanes

A model of our Pokemon plane

On our trip to Poland (for a boring meeting, so not much time for sightseeing I guess), we flew the route Sapporo-Tokyo-Frankfurt-Poznan. Usually we have to get up really early (4:30 A.M.) but on the other hand that usually means we arrive in Europe in the afternoon or evening, which at least is nice. This time, we had an evening flight, which meant changing airplane in Tokyo at 1 A.M. (everything turned out to be closed by then, no money exchange, no cafe, no shop) and arriving in Frankfurt at 5 A.M. local time... not very pleasant.

We did get to ride in some interesting airplanes, though. Between Sapporo and Tokyo, all the big carriers run jumbo jets, even though it is just a domestic flight. This time we flew with ANA, and our B747-400D was a Pokemon special plane. So the outside was painted with Pokemons, the engines were poke-balls, and the interior also had lots of Pokemon stuff.

The flight from Tokyo to Frankfurt was also with ANA, and we got to ride in the new B787, which is only used by ANA so far (if I understand correctly). It was a very nice plane.

The last hop to Poznan was in a tiny airplane. Since even my domestic trips from Sapporo are in jumbo jets, it was the first time in many years I rode a plane that small...

The engines of our Pokemon plane had poke-balls painted on them.

The seats had Pokemons.

And the outside of course had Pokemons.

We got to ride the ANA B787.

It said on the seats that ANA is the first to use B787s.

Then we had a really tiny plane for the last hop.

Samantha Thavasa plane

On the flight back from Tokyo we ended up in a plane that was a JAL/Samantha Thavasa collaboration plane. So they had specially designed cups etc. It is also pretty interesting that they run domestic flights between Sapporo on Tokyo using Boeing 777s. Are these planes used for domestic travels anywhere else?