Alright. So needless to say, Kim and I were super excited about this trip. Originally we wanted to go to Tokyo for a week to see Kim's friends and then fly to Hong Kong for another week to see my friends. But it just got too expensive. So we decided to break it up. But don't worry my Hong Kong girls. I will see you! I promise!

We had an early flight out of Oslo and took the Planetrain to the airport before the sun came up (not that that's too hard to do since the sun doesn't rise here till well after 10). Security was not too bad. They had to have me pull stuff out of my bag though because my Nintendo DS was 'too close to my books, making it look suspicious'. Hmmm... Ok. Kim took a book in his bag to ensure that did not happen again later. :o)

We walked through the Oslo airport (think I have been to this airport more than any other now!) and found our gate...downstairs...in a basement. I hate to fly so I was just a bit apprehensive to imagine the size of our plane since we were loading from the ground. It was cold and I was nervous and Kim was doing his best to try and make me feel better. At least the flight to Moscow where our 6 HOUR LAYOVER (ugh) was to take place was only 2 1/2 hours so that made me feel a bit less concerned. Still...

The flight did go by fairly quickly and they fed us. Open face sandwiches, obviously catering to it's Norwegian passengers. Now, I don't know what I was expecting from the Moscow airport but with a six hour layover I was surely hoping for some restaurants, places to hang out, magazine shops...the usual airport fare. Uh...no. Not so much. This airport can only be described as a JOKE! I mean, you could do laps around the first and second floor! Each was both just a giant circle...well not even giant. It was just pathetic. And they don't have the no smoking laws there so it smelled BAD! People (including airport employees) would just stand and smoke anywhere and blow it in your face! Kim and I were appalled. It was awful.
Stinky airport


Ok so we took a look around...which took all of thirty minutes. So we took another look around. Then decided we were hungry and wanted some 'real food' in our tummys before getting on the 9 1/2 hour plane to Tokyo. The only problem? There was no 'real food' anywhere in this airport! We must have walked in a circle three or four times, up and downstairs, before deciding on the Tajmahal'. This place was ridiculous. The waitress didn't understand any English. Which might have been excusable if she didn't work in an International Airport! Even worse, you could see the servers standing in the 'back door' smoking. It was so nasty. And the Russian people in the airport were just not friendly at all. They never smiled (but with a job in a place so depressing and stinky I guess there is not much to smile about) and they just acted like customers were putting them out by simply breathing. It was not pleasant.
Anyways, we ordered some greazy lasagna dishes, of which we didn't even finish as we were nervous what actually went on in the kitchen there. It also put us off eating to have to smell smoke all around us since there was no 'non smoking' section in this place. Not that it mattered anyway because there were no walls around it. It was just plopped in the middle of the airport so smokers were walking by all the time as it was. Just really bad. To make it worse, the meal was THIRTY DOLLARS!! For two small dishes of a greazy lasagna and two bottles of water! That was the last straw. Even the plane food would have to be better than this! We paid and left, still hungry.
Still having lots of time to kill, Kim and I played our DS's and did a few more laps around the airport to walk off the heavy food (what we ate of it).
Us being super bored!


Russian dolls in one of the shops


After what seemed like an eternity, it was finally time to board. The security people were so rude! I couldn't believe at how they were talking to the passengers. Just treating us like we were stupid and they would rather be getting paper cuts on each finger than dealing with us. Fine. We were more than happy to get out of that crummy place anyway!
Once on the plane it was already almost 8pm. So we got settled in. We had great seats by the emergency exits so there was TONS of leg room in front of us. This was especially nice for Kim as his legs are endless. He was pleased.
The only unfortunate thing about this plane trip was the HOUR we spent waiting to take off. Not sure if there was a back up on the runway or what but it took FOREVER. Moscow didn't want us to leave! I usually sleep through take offs and I was so tired that I didn't notice the hour wait but Kim was wide awake and was not happy. When we did get off the ground I still fell back asleep. I was so glad too because I HATE long flights! Unfortunately, those are the only kind of flights I have taken these past couple years! You just never really get used to it.
They fed us (not too bad but not yummy) and I read a lot of my book while Kim still played his DS, waiting for the battery to die before he decided to snooze off.
To me, for a long flight, the last few hours are always the worst for some reason. Maybe because you have already slept and read and ate and played and listened to music for the other 7 or so hours to those last 2 or 3 are just spent w.a.i.t.i.n.g....
But eventually we landed at the Tokyo Narita Airport and I was so excited! Kim usually sleeps through the landings so I just stared out the window, eagerly anticipating our week ahead....
Japan from the air!


Okay that's a lot of writing. I will make another entry!