Today started out early enough, finishing up packing, saying goodbye to the kitteh, and then riding the shuttle up to the Cities. Although we got there within plenty of time for the flight itself, we ended up getting there with a bit TOO MUCH time, so we spent some time walking around the airport looking for anything remotely interesting when we stumbled upon a Guitar Hero ARCADE cabinet.
Wait, really? Am I seeing things? I thought this was just announced?! Well, I'm not a huge Guitar Hero fan by any stretch of the imagination, but this is a chance to try out something new that a lot of other people haven't had a chance to see yet. Thus, it's a chance I couldn't really pass up. So I put two bucks in the machine (one for me, one for Lisa) and we get ready to rock out. Much to our dismay, when we finally got to the song selection menu, we got a big shock.
Most of the songs that people would deem "worth" playing were listed under the "premium" category. Meaning, the machine was asking for $2 more in order to "unlock" the song. What kind of bull%&^* is this crap?! Is this how low you've sunken, Activision? Charging us $1 for a single song, and then locking out half the songlist unless the user pays more money upfront? Yep. Sounds about right. In fact, the whole experience was a big mistake, as I have a strong suspicion that this gaming blunder might have turned Lisa off entirely to the idea of game centers. Damn.
So we finish up and begin walking towards gate G4, where our flight was boarding. Surprisingly, boarding took much less time than expected, although the plane was quite a bit larger than I was expecting too, with a lower and upper deck.
I'd like to say the flight went well, but that was not to be... for a number of reasons:
1.) Although we were obviously in coach, NWA/Delta's idea of international travel in coach is substantially different than United's. Last year, United not only gave me quite a bit more legroom than NWA, but also every passenger (yes, even in coach) got their own video screen with several selections of movies and programs. Not here. Oh no. You get nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. You better have brought something to amuse yourself, otherwise it's going to be a VERY long flight...
2.) The previously mentioned lack of legroom combined with a person sitting in front of me who I shall deem "Recliner Bob". Good old Bob decides, 20 minutes into the flight that he wants to get some shuteye. Attempting to get comfortable to do so, he presses the recline button on his seat and leans back, sending the metal part of the seat straight into my already scrunched knees. Oh, NO, YOU DID NOT. Oh yes, he did. And when he hit my knees, he thought the seat was broken, NOT THAT IT WAS PINCHING SOMEONE'S KNEES, and decides to keep ramming his seat back attempting to get the most possible space. Well, Bob, sorry, but the laws of physics don't exactly allow your seat to go THROUGH my legs. I was so pissed. I gave him the finger several times from behind (which he didn't see of course), and bit my lip. Two hours later when they finally served us food for the first time, he sat back up. And when he did my legs shifted into battle position, ready to defend what was left of any slight HINT of legroom.
3.) They fed us well. Almost too well. The food wasn't great quality, but we were all stuffed, uncomfortable, and cramped in a very small space. I tried to get some sleep, but didn't have much success at all.
Overall, this flight gets a 2...out of 5.
Finally landing in Tokyo, my Japanese really came in handy when attempting to change money and get through customs and onto a Shinjuku-bound bus. The busride was long but interesting, and at this point we're both so completely exhausted that I have no desire whatsoever to finish this entry. I'm going to crash now, I promise my later entries will make up for this disappointment...
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