March 22 SEA to SFO
Got up around 3:30 AM to get my act together and catch a 4:20 shuttle to the airport. Under normal circumstances I would never see 3:30 twice in the same day. But wanting to recoupe some of the money from last year's canceled trip with United I was bound to the Seattle to San Francisco to Osaka route. A choice I would regret often. Mainly because of the lost time back tracking. Take a 2 hour flight from Seattle to SFO, wait 3 hours and take a flight to Osaka that has to go back past Seattle. Right there is 7 wasted hours. Regardless, the flight to SFO was an uneventful shuttle flight. Arrived on time with plenty of time to loll around before my flight to Japan.
March 22-23 SFO to KIX
I boarded the flight to Osaka (KIX) at 11:15 AM. Flight was to depart at 11:43 AM (note this is 8 hours after I'd awakened), but at 11:45 we were still at the gate. Noon rolls around and the co-pilot is on the PA telling us that a water compressor is out and "it's a no-go item". At 12:15 he comes back on and says "we've got another plane if we need it, but let's give them until 12:30 to fix the compressor". At 12:35 we're deplaning and headed to another gate. We load onto the next plane and are in the air by 2:PM. Whoohoo!
To be fair, this could have been a lot worse. We could have lost the water compressor in mid-flight and have to turn back or emergency land in Alaska or Russia. Goodbye ramen and hello borscht (I hear Vladivostok is great this time of year). So I'm glad they found it when they did. I also appreciate the cockpit keeping us up to date on the problem and the flight attendants keeping their good humor while herding us to the new plane. All in all, I give United an A+ on the situation (later lowered to a C- by their meals).
Twenty Two hours after leaving my home, I was once again in my beloved Japan and on solid ground (or at least the manmade island the airport is perched on). After a two hour train ride and 30 more minutes looking for the hotel, I was finally settled in. I showered, stretched and reviewed my travel plans for the next day.
Thought for the Day
"100 years ago a trip to Japan would have taken me 3 weeks and I would have been seasick the whole time."
March 24 To Shikoku
Got up early and caught a bus (near the Hilton) to Iyo Saijo. I was a little surprised that it took 5 hours, but then again I wasn't.
I debated whether to start walking that afternoon or simply stay the night in Iyo Saijo and begin fresh the next day. On the one hand I really wanted to get walking and on the other hand walking only a half day from Iyo Saijo would make the next day's walk either too short or too long due to the spacing of accomodations (Miyazaki San, Maps 66 & 67). Finally I decided to stay over in Iyo Saijo. This turned out to be the best choice because it put me on the same rythm as other henro. Allowing me to meet the same folks day after day, building a loose but welcome comraderie amongst us.
Looked around for a cheap hotel and found one that was willing to give me a discount for being a henro. At first I thought "I'm not a henro because I haven't started walking yet", but then again "I just traveled 2 days to get here from North America. Yes, I'm a henro."
Thought for the Day
"When did I begin the pilgrimage? In 2006 when I first came to Shikoku? Or have I always been on it and just didn't know it?"