High Maintenance

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In an effort to simplify the early airport trip by sharing an Uber ride, Fred graciously allowed me to crash on his couch the night before. The morning of our trip started with my alarm waking me at 4am to quick freshen up before our 4:30am departure. The night before Fred told me he had not packed yet, so I expected to see him up and moving. To my surprise, the space under his door was dark. With a knock, I opened the door and asked a simple "Fred?". I got the groaning response "What time is it?" My 4 o'clock answer received an explicit response. Fred jumped out of bed to gather his things while I went on my way to get ready. Amazingly, we managed to get down to the street for an Uber ride by 4:45am. (We'll find out later if Fred forgot anything major!)
For some reason, the pin drop for our Uber was not directly where Fred's apartment building was located so while we were the only people on the street at that time of day and waved to our driver, he passed us by. A quick phone call from Fred had the driver BACKING UP down the street to pick us up. Besides a minor reminder of stopping at a red light from Fred, the driver had no more problems getting us to the airport. Thankfully, we had no issues checking in at the airport and going through security (Fred didn't forget his passport in the whirlwind packing - woo hoo!). A breakfast sandwich (for me) and Whopper (for Fred) later, we were comfortably waiting for our first leg of the trip - a quick flight to Houston. Exhausted from our early rising we both enjoyed a cat nap on the flight.
At the Houston airport, Fred continued to be "high maintenance" (as he called it). We had to stop at Subway, the bookstore, and Starbucks for him before we made it to our gate. I enjoyed some wandering around the airport to stretch my legs before a daunting 13 hour flight to Tokyo. We even stumbled upon the perfect image of Tokyo and Singapore on a mural during our walk! Expecting we had plenty of time prior to boarding and using the excuse that it was an appropriate time in Singapore, Fred and I stopped at Pappadeaux's for a pre-trip drink. We may have misjudged a bit, but luckily we had a seat overlooking the gate and Fred requested the check right away because we quickly had to finish our drinks and run to the restroom before being the last couple of people to get onboard. (At least we didn't have to wait in line!) I left the bathroom before Fred so I went to go on the plane. I waved at him as he left the bathroom. Since he turned to go get water, I continued on to find our seats. When he didn't show up soon after, I sent him a message. Somehow he didn't see me out there when he came out of the bathroom, so was standing at the front of the gate waiting for me! My text prompted him to board finally.
The plane ended up being only about 1/2 full. We thought we'd get lucky and have our row to ourselves to spread out. Unfortunately, we got an older Asian lady in our aisle seat who seemed quite content to stay where she was despite the many open seats and many other passengers who had moved around. We filled our 13 hours with movies, food, reading, and chatting. I tried to get up every few hours to stretch my legs so my knee wouldn't kill me upon my arrival. I made a friend one of the walking trips with a man named Randy who was also on his way to Singapore. However he was on a trip for business and was enjoying the company covering the trip by celebrating with a drink... or two... or more.
Fred and I utilized the opportunity to stretch out our legs at the Tokyo airport by thoroughly exploring the HUGE terminal. It was fascinating seeing all the shops - sweets are the biggest commodity. (I think I will be enjoying my stay in Japan when we get back there). Due to some turbulence on the landing bothering my stomach, I enjoyed a small dinner of Pocky & chewy candy while Fred was the adult having a real meal. I managed to stay awake through the entire 13 hour flight and it was obvious to Fred through my conversations (I was starting to get a little out of it). Once on the flight to Singapore, I popped on the movie "Penguins of Madagascar" and didn't even make it a quarter of the way through before I was out! It worked out perfectly though with the time change for Singapore. On arrival, Singapore customs was surprisingly not intimidating like many countries so we easily moved through to get our bags. In fact, they even had little screens immediately after you visited the customs agent to rate how well you enjoyed your experience. Since Changi is the only Singapore airport, it means every passenger has to go through customs so that may be why it was so nice. The baggage claim area was beautiful with waterfalls and many plants - welcome to paradise! A simple cab ride later we were at our hostel and crawling into bed.

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