Almost Home

Dwight’s carrying grocery bags of fresh produce we picked up at Trader Joe’s on the way from the LRT station. After over two weeks on the road, we are a little deficient in the fresh produce department.

The Road to Oxford

At Kings Cross we paused for a selfie, then took the tube to Paddington to catch a train to Oxford to join friends for our hike to the source of the Thames. Somehow, instead of one tube train, we took four trains, or maybe it was five trains as we compounded our navigation errors.

View of MSP Gate G9 Jet Bridge

MSP, gate G9, soon to board for London LHR. Thunderstorms are brewing bringing back memories of a rather alarming aborted landing in Tokyo due to thunderstorm-related downdrafts. We accumulate our experiences.

Planespotting

Woke up to a view of wet tarmac and San Francisco SFO’s International Terminal A. After a week of blue skies, rain was pelting down. Soon, the EVA Air (green tail on the left) flight will depart for Taipei, the China Eastern flight (on the right) for Shanghai, and we’ll be en route to Minneapolis/St.… Continue reading Planespotting

Final Stop, Yokohama

Monday. Travelled by bullet train from Kanazawa to Tokyo, then transferred to a local train for Yokohama (part of Greater Tokyo), my final stop on this trip. On Wednesday it will be a 20-minute ride on the Keikyu Line to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport international terminal.

Kanazawa for the Weekend

I’m now in Kanazawa (blue dot) which will be my base for the next three days. Authorities are begging tourists to return after the January 1, 2024 earthquake devastated areas in the peninsula north of Kanazawa. Today I traveled 144 miles from Osaka via two bullet trains and four local trains. Along the way, I paused for a hike.

Bullet Train to Hakata

On board a bullet train to Hakata (Fukuoka). Indeed the rain bucketed down all day in Kagoshima, but I was able to visit the Meiji Museum and get my ears lowered. Also popped into MontBell, one of my favorite outdoors stores, to replace my folding/disintegrating daypack. Finally, I enjoyed a coffee and sandwich in a cafe in a lovely public library.