How time flies.........

Hello again! I'm busy getting caught up on some of the blog adventures to be sent to you.......we've had a marvelous time in just 48 hours! Photos will be from our evening dinner in Whitehorse and so on.

We crossed over the International Date Line yesterday, so I'm not sure where I am, what time it is, what day it is......ha ha!

First things first.......Happy Birthday wishes go out to my very dear friend JoLove Beach in Lacy, WA. (near Seattle)! I'm thinking about you!!!!!

So, we get to the terminal in Whitehorse yesterday, and there sitting on the bench.......waiting with a big smile......my good friend Blaine! That was very cool!!!! And a great surprise! Made me feel like someone really cared.........(when you live alone, you get used to coming and going by yourself).........

Time to head off to Japan. Back on the plane, and settled in with the fabulous crew...........but, there's a delay. They have to de-ice the wings. It's cold in Whitehorse this morning! (not for them.......but for us!). We were late getting out of Whitehorse, but it was a splendid day for flying. We could see for miles and miles........blue skies........sun shining........and up, up and away (I was thinking about you, Louann.......as this is going to be a long day on the plane, and I know how you feel about flying.)

We settle in, and there are 2 movies to be shown today: Rumor Has It (Jennifer Aniston) and Hairspray (John Travolta). Nice choices. The meals were great..........lots of food........but.....we start off with our choice of champagne or orange juice. What a nice way to begin the day, wouldn't you say?????? Lifestyles of the rich and.......... ha ha. Lunch was a choice of veal marsala (yum, that's what I had) or pork. We get a snack later on.........Thai Salad roll, sandwiches, cookies, snacks, snacks and more snacks and......oh wait......here come the drinks again. Tough stuff!

There is lots of room on the flight and many settle in for naps at varying times of the day/night. We cross over the INternational Date Line and out comes the champagne, so we can properly celebrate the time change. Gotta love that! You'll see in the pictures. We have 2 birthdays to celebrate also. All done in style.

We leave Whitehorse, fly over Alaska and stop in Russia for fuel. It's a stop for just over an hour. Interesting spot, in the middle of nowhere...........Is this Siberia, perhaps? No. But it does look like it. Got some great photos from the plane. People are starting to bond already, and all is well.

We arrive in Osaka. Things are so very well organized by Travel Guild (www.privatejettours.ca) that the stress of travel is eliminated for us. It's just a matter of going from Point A to Point B. Out of the airport and on to the bus for the (almost) 2 hour drive to Kyoto. We're getting pretty tired now. We left the hotel in Whitehorse at 9 a.m. and were arriving at our hotel in Kyoto almost 20 hours later. Whew. It's a BIG wide world out there. It's very quiet on the bus ride to Kyoto..........most people are snoozing. It's dusk and hard to see a lot of things anyway.

We get to the hotel, rooms are assigned and people disappear. There is a buffet dinner (stop smiling, those of you from the World Tour 2006.......yes it was a buffet!).......and it was splendid. Again, the pictures tell all. Lots of choices. Authentic Japanese food and very yummy. People eat and are out of there fairly quickly. It's been a very LONG day!

I love my room. The bed is splendid, the duvet is welcoming and the pillow is soft and comfortable! (take note, Ms. Kate.......it's not a "heavenly bed", as per the Westin, but it FEELS heavenly to my tired body. I tried to do some blogging but between technical difficulties and a very tired brain, nothing was going right. I did enjoy sitting at the computer in my lovely, soft kimono and sipping on the Kelp Tea! Yum. Lights out.

Sayonara! More to follow.......(we're having an early dinner and that's just fine by me........I'll be back in the kimono, with my Kelp Tea with Plum.......download more pictures........and work on getting caught up on the blog.)

Happy Pat

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