After an interesting last week in Japan which was filled with suspense and anxiety for the release, I finally departed from Kawasaki at 7:00 am to Shinagawa Prince Hotel. From there, I took the Airport Limousine to Narita and after a sleepy 2 hours, I found myself at the check in counter waiting to get my boarding pass. The pretty Japanese lady at the counter asked me to load up my check in baggage, after which, a not-so-pretty Japanese guy started measuring my bags. The lady in her typical Japanese politeness told me that my baggage was 11 cm over the max limit and I had to pay 150 USD if I wanted check it in!! I was surprised (more like *What The F*ck?!!!* kind of surprised). I almost started to fish out the money, totally confused with what was going on. But good sense prevailed before I gave her the cash (something which lacks in me during critical situations and often the focal point for my dad's angry screams directed towards me). I tried to explain her that I did not face this problem while coming to Japan and asked her whether there was a change of rules in the last 6 weeks?? Now, it was her turn to be confused. She re-checked and realized that she had incorrectly added up the numbers!! Instead of a difference of 11 cm, my bag was ... well... over by 1 cm! And then there was a flurry of apologies from the lady, her boss and even the guy who was measuring my bags! Man! something definitely HAS to happen at the airport when I travel!
Anyways, with my boarding pass in my hand, I roamed around the airport till boarding time. The flight was excellent. I was traveling in Air India, and there were hardly any people on the plane. I had 2 vacant seats next to me and the lunch was awesome! I spent the entire 8 hours watching 4 movies. and drinking 3 beers (intelligently paced of course). The flight was smooth, but due to the air traffic congestion over Delhi, we circled over Jaipur for almost 40 minutes before finally landing an hour late. My mom and dad came to pick me up at the airport. After a series of traffic jams, thanks to the office rush hour, I reached my home after almost 1.5 hours. Needless to say, it felt awesome to be back. The best part about returning from Japan is that you land in the evening..so there is always time to party the same day you arrive. I had a couple of beers with Dad and caught up with everything that was happening. Over the course of next week, I would have loads of ppl to meet, lots of beers to drink and I am pretty sure I would go crazy over the food. Boy! I cant wait!!
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