Mama-Sans & Big Macs
FROM CAP’N MERYL
“Mama-Sans & Big Macs”
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/getline/2005-01-10-ask-the-captain_x.htm I have good news and bad news. First the good news: My trip to Tokyo and Seoul was super-interesting as well as super-fun. The weather was spectacular with blue skies and mild temperatures, unlike the blizzard we found upon our return to Chicago. Now the bad news: I’ve never been much of a photographer and misinterpreted my camera to be fully-charged when in fact it was only partly charged, so I got a few enroute photos but for my actual forays into the town of Narita, Japan, I had no camera. The battery isn’t replaceable but must be recharged, which I’m afraid learned the hard way. I’ll have to wait for the next time around to get the great shots I wanted at the Buddhist Temple in Narita, Japan and some other missed shots. We flew right by Mt. Fuji on the flight from Seoul to Tokyo and I was kicking myself the whole time over not having my camera available. I attended a Buddhist ceremony at the temple in Narita and kneeled on the floor along with everyone else, listening to the chant of the monks and absolutely the biggest, loudest drum I’ve ever seen or heard. The hum of the chanting, the fragrance of the incense, and the pounding, relentless drumbeat all combined to be mesmerizing. The narrow street leading to the temple was thronged with people and vendors hawking roasted chestnuts and a variety of Japanese goodies. Loudspeakers played Japanese music. I’ve learned once again (well, apparently I haven’t learned that well) to never look into the open buckets outside the various shops. Invariably there’s something live and squirming in there and I have a weak stomach. I, too, was live and squirming after I peeked. At the head of Narita’s main street is a McDonald’s which I remembered from flying to Japan in the late eighties. Since coffee in a Japanese coffee shop— these are new since I was there last—was about $7 per cup with no refills, I went to McDonalds for my coffee and paid about $1 instead. There, just as I remembered, were Japanese women—some young and some quite elderly—in traditional kimonos ordering Big Mac’s. Although my Japanese is limited, I distinctly heard the teenage girl behind the counter ask, “Would you like fries with that?” The word “fries” was said in English but came out “flies”. Maybe it’s just me, but I always get a kick out of seeing scenes like this, just a little out of whack. For those of you not familiar with Narita, its airport serves the Tokyo area. It takes about an hour by train to get downtown Tokyo but I stayed in Narita this trip. Narita Airport itself has gotten fairly interesting since I last flew there on a regular basis in the late eighties. There was only one, long runway then and a feud going on with some local rice paddy farmers. The airport wanted to expand but the farmers wouldn’t relinquish their land. Eventually, some kind of partial success was realized. The airport put in a second, shorter runway which, because of the various fences separating the airport grounds from the rice paddies, makes for a fascinating taxi experience. It’s not only the longest distance I’ve ever taxied an airplane—probably around four miles—but one of the most intricate routes with various holding points where you have to wait for other aircraft to pass before continuing. The B-777 I fly measures about 200 feet from nose to tail and also about 200 feet from wingtip to wingtip. It’s like taxiing an ACRE of property around and you just have to be careful. The pilots cannot see the wingtips from the cockpit, so it can be tricky. There are places where one aircraft must wait in a holding area for another to pass or else the two airplanes would smack wingtips. This would be a bad thing—a VERY bad thing—and yes, it has happened (no, not to me). The flight from Chicago to Tokyo was twelve hours, thirty-eight minutes. Flights over twelve hours require two relief pilots, so there were four pilots in the cockpit for takeoff and landing. Other than that, though, we took turns going back and sleeping or, in my case, catching up on my movie-watching. While still over the United States, a Royal Canadian Air Force C-17 flew over us. They were on their way to Indonesia to help with the tsunami relief effort (as were some of our passengers). I later saw the crew interviewed on CNN International from my hotel room in Japan. In the Photo Gallery, you’ll see a great shot of an American Airlines B-777 flying the same route we were, two thousand feet higher. We were at 36,000 and they were at 38,000. Please notice who is passing whom (if it isn’t obvious, we were passing them). We met up with the crew going through customs in Narita and they said they got some great shots of us! This update is getting long so I’ll save more about this trip for next time. This coming week I’m busy visiting with family and doing some TV interviews out in Los Angeles, including Fox News Live’s “Ask The Expert Segment” which will air live at 5:45 AM this Friday, January 14th if you locals care to watch. I won’t have any new flights to tell you about in any case, so…… Until Next Time, Maintain Airspeed! Cap’n Meryl
“Mama-Sans & Big Macs”
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/getline/2005-01-10-ask-the-captain_x.htm I have good news and bad news. First the good news: My trip to Tokyo and Seoul was super-interesting as well as super-fun. The weather was spectacular with blue skies and mild temperatures, unlike the blizzard we found upon our return to Chicago. Now the bad news: I’ve never been much of a photographer and misinterpreted my camera to be fully-charged when in fact it was only partly charged, so I got a few enroute photos but for my actual forays into the town of Narita, Japan, I had no camera. The battery isn’t replaceable but must be recharged, which I’m afraid learned the hard way. I’ll have to wait for the next time around to get the great shots I wanted at the Buddhist Temple in Narita, Japan and some other missed shots. We flew right by Mt. Fuji on the flight from Seoul to Tokyo and I was kicking myself the whole time over not having my camera available. I attended a Buddhist ceremony at the temple in Narita and kneeled on the floor along with everyone else, listening to the chant of the monks and absolutely the biggest, loudest drum I’ve ever seen or heard. The hum of the chanting, the fragrance of the incense, and the pounding, relentless drumbeat all combined to be mesmerizing. The narrow street leading to the temple was thronged with people and vendors hawking roasted chestnuts and a variety of Japanese goodies. Loudspeakers played Japanese music. I’ve learned once again (well, apparently I haven’t learned that well) to never look into the open buckets outside the various shops. Invariably there’s something live and squirming in there and I have a weak stomach. I, too, was live and squirming after I peeked. At the head of Narita’s main street is a McDonald’s which I remembered from flying to Japan in the late eighties. Since coffee in a Japanese coffee shop— these are new since I was there last—was about $7 per cup with no refills, I went to McDonalds for my coffee and paid about $1 instead. There, just as I remembered, were Japanese women—some young and some quite elderly—in traditional kimonos ordering Big Mac’s. Although my Japanese is limited, I distinctly heard the teenage girl behind the counter ask, “Would you like fries with that?” The word “fries” was said in English but came out “flies”. Maybe it’s just me, but I always get a kick out of seeing scenes like this, just a little out of whack. For those of you not familiar with Narita, its airport serves the Tokyo area. It takes about an hour by train to get downtown Tokyo but I stayed in Narita this trip. Narita Airport itself has gotten fairly interesting since I last flew there on a regular basis in the late eighties. There was only one, long runway then and a feud going on with some local rice paddy farmers. The airport wanted to expand but the farmers wouldn’t relinquish their land. Eventually, some kind of partial success was realized. The airport put in a second, shorter runway which, because of the various fences separating the airport grounds from the rice paddies, makes for a fascinating taxi experience. It’s not only the longest distance I’ve ever taxied an airplane—probably around four miles—but one of the most intricate routes with various holding points where you have to wait for other aircraft to pass before continuing. The B-777 I fly measures about 200 feet from nose to tail and also about 200 feet from wingtip to wingtip. It’s like taxiing an ACRE of property around and you just have to be careful. The pilots cannot see the wingtips from the cockpit, so it can be tricky. There are places where one aircraft must wait in a holding area for another to pass or else the two airplanes would smack wingtips. This would be a bad thing—a VERY bad thing—and yes, it has happened (no, not to me). The flight from Chicago to Tokyo was twelve hours, thirty-eight minutes. Flights over twelve hours require two relief pilots, so there were four pilots in the cockpit for takeoff and landing. Other than that, though, we took turns going back and sleeping or, in my case, catching up on my movie-watching. While still over the United States, a Royal Canadian Air Force C-17 flew over us. They were on their way to Indonesia to help with the tsunami relief effort (as were some of our passengers). I later saw the crew interviewed on CNN International from my hotel room in Japan. In the Photo Gallery, you’ll see a great shot of an American Airlines B-777 flying the same route we were, two thousand feet higher. We were at 36,000 and they were at 38,000. Please notice who is passing whom (if it isn’t obvious, we were passing them). We met up with the crew going through customs in Narita and they said they got some great shots of us! This update is getting long so I’ll save more about this trip for next time. This coming week I’m busy visiting with family and doing some TV interviews out in Los Angeles, including Fox News Live’s “Ask The Expert Segment” which will air live at 5:45 AM this Friday, January 14th if you locals care to watch. I won’t have any new flights to tell you about in any case, so…… Until Next Time, Maintain Airspeed! Cap’n Meryl
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