I arrived Chicago, with little “surprise” on the way.
I arrived the airport after saying goodbye (hard!) to the family, contemplating how to entertain myself during 4 hrs transit time in Tokyo. It turned out that I didn’t have that…. instead I had to transit domestically from Narita to Haneda airport which is 70km away!!! Gosh… how I didn’t realize it when I booked the flight. I panicked for few seconds before knowing that that was not the end of the world. The worst scenario would be I stay in Tokyo for a while until the next flight?
Fortunately Japan is soooooooo efficient! It took me exactly 2 hrs from the arrival time to get to the next gate in a different airport, involving unboard the plane, pass immigration, get my luggage, go through custom, catch the bus, check in again, pass security, all that in 2 hrs door to door. AMAZING!
I arrived Chicago 9:30am, took the blue line, walked for 10 minutes with two luggages, to a luggage storage place near my stay as my check in time was 4pm. After dropping the luggage, I looked for food.
I decided to try True Food Kitchen, a vegan chain restaurant, and ordered taco salad, it was soooo good!
I got notified that my early check in was granted, so I went back to the luggage storage place and got to my temporary home. Next step? trader joes! obviously. There are so many pumpkin theme products!! I love pumpkin but don’t like the pumpkin theme products, only got one yogurt to try.
Once I got back to my place, I crushed as I barely slept during my flight. I woke up 3 hrs later, a bit confused where I was but felt better.
When arriving to new place alone, I always have thoughts of regret. Why am I here alone? I miss the family so much!!! The hotel is not as nice as I thought. I miss my family!!! etc… etc… those doubts went half way after my nap.
I spent the evening watching movies, browsing fb page of chicago runners, and finally got sleepy 10:30pm.
I woke up 10:50am this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now, it’s so sunny that I don’t know if I can run outdoor, but will try. 🙂
later…..
Our New Journey 
Wow – that transfer between airports would have stressed. me. out. Glad you made it and are settling into Chicago.
LikeLike
Yikes the airport snafu would have been stressful! I am glad it worked out ok! I didn’t realize there was. True food kitchen in Chicago. I just went to one in New Jersey when I was there for work. I really liked my food, too!
I hope you are enjoying Chicago so far! It’s a city I really love!!
LikeLike
The timing of your trip is bad for me or I maybe could have tried to get down to meet you!! I’m maybe 2-2.5 hours away from Chicago driving. But… just got a, you know, puppy and all.. haha.. and I’m actually going out of town with Ethan tomorrow for a few days (also very bad timing with the whole puppy thing!). But that would have been sooo cool to meet up!
LikeLike
Oh that would have been so cool! Next time 🙂
LikeLike