Our return trip to the U.S. was much, much easier than our frantic departure. We took the Keisei Limited Express from Asakusa Station to Narita Airport, a little over an hour ride, and made it to Terminal Two with plenty of time to spare.
Our flight on the 787 Dreamliner was relatively easy, and we did notice and interesting difference between the ANA (All Nippon Airways) and the United Airlines flights. Simply put, United flights across the Pacific are a bit more comfortable and the entertainment options more robust. We found the options available to us on United far outpaced the ANA offerings and we were pleasantly surprised that the service was a bit better. This note is not to knock ANA. We just noticed a couple of differences that make long flights to and from Asia a bit more bearable.
Speaking of which, flights across the Pacific are long. The shortest route, from my experience, is the LAX or SFO flights to Tokyo. Running about 11 hours and 30 minutes, that trip is tiring. On trips to Bhutan, I always fly to Bangkok, a 6 hour and 40 minute flight from Narita in Japan. That makes the flying day, from Albuquerque, roughly 18 hours of travel IN THE AIR. Whew.
Back in Albuquerque, Halle, Natascha, and I were spent, and we pretty much crashed. I think I walked in the house and fell asleep almost immediately after having been awake since 3:45 AM Bangkok time….about 28 hours of being awake!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I will submit a few more photos from my Black and White rolls of Bhutan and Japan. In the meantime, you can read some reflections on the trip from Halle and Natascha as well as some thoughts about the upcoming trips next summer.
Thanks for reading.
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