Around the world in 22 days...

Here's the start of another round-the-world business trip. On "Leap Day" I hopped on a United flight from SFO to Tokyo. The rest of the trip will take me to Hong Kong, New Delhi, Singapore (briefly), and then on to Europe.

The flight to Tokyo was pretty decent, and oddly enough, I actually enjoyed the meal. I was a bit scared, since it was one of the "designed by Charlie Trotter" menu items--in past experience the big T logo means "Truly disgusting"...but it was an apricot curry braised lamb shoulder, with Israeli couscous and spinach. We didn't take off on time since the folks on the ground decided to hold out for 20 passengers connecting from Denver, but we made up for it and arrived roughly on schedule at 15:30 on Saturday March 1.

Downtown Tokyo is 60+ km away from the Narita airport. Last time I took the "Narita Express" train, which while speedy required a change either at Tokyo or Shinagawa...and with baggage is really a stupid thing to do at rushhour since the trains are packed. So instead I took the "limo bus", which brought me straight to the Westin. Very easy, but took two hours. That's on par with what the train would've taken, but after a 10 hour flight (in first), it's not terribly fun to sit on a bus and get motion sick while reading two months of old NYTimes dining sections.

More details later.