The first day of our trip started much more calmly than previous trips to America, mostly because the flight left much later in the day. We had a rather relaxing morning making final preparations and then after lunch we took the airport bus from Utsunomiya station to Narita. Nozomi's mother rode with us, and she and Nozomi had a long talk together. Even at the airport we had a stress-free time; since we were on China Airlines, we left from Terminal One instead of Terminal Two (which seems to be much busier usually-most of the international flights leave from Terminal Two). Going through security was even easy; no line and friendly staff that said not to bother taking off my shoes and belt-WOW! (My experience waiting in ridiculously long security lines in the airports in Hawaii later is another story...) The flight was uneventful (I watched the new Muppet Movie on the plane-pretty fun!) and it was interesting hearing the flight attendants use Chinese, Japanese or English depending on who they were talking to. The only negative was just before landing I started to get a headache and plugged ears. After getting off the plane I had either a hay fever attack or a cold, I'm still not sure which, and the Honolulu airport has NO amenities other than a Starbucks outside the security gate. It's laughably bad. But, we were in Hawaii, so I couldn't complain TOO much.
After meeting up with my family, we found the car rental office and drove to our condominium. (Nozomi's mother and sister were on a different flight, part of a package deal, so the shuttle bus took them to their hotel separately.) After a bit of relaxing, we drove to their hotel for the first meeting of Nozomi's and my parents. In the first pictures, you can see us exchanging gifts after greeting each other, and then a couple of posed pictures outside their hotel. Everyone was happy to finally meet each other and carefully selected gifts were exchanged. My mother commissioned my sister-in-law to custom make some beautiful tote bags for the members of Nozomi's family; you can see one in the picture if you look carefully. Nozomi's mother brought some hand-made dragonfly brooches that my mother loved. Later in the evening, we met again for a short time at the beach between where we were staying and watched the sunset together. We returned to the condo and hotel to recover from jet lag and get ready for the next day's adventures.
After meeting up with my family, we found the car rental office and drove to our condominium. (Nozomi's mother and sister were on a different flight, part of a package deal, so the shuttle bus took them to their hotel separately.) After a bit of relaxing, we drove to their hotel for the first meeting of Nozomi's and my parents. In the first pictures, you can see us exchanging gifts after greeting each other, and then a couple of posed pictures outside their hotel. Everyone was happy to finally meet each other and carefully selected gifts were exchanged. My mother commissioned my sister-in-law to custom make some beautiful tote bags for the members of Nozomi's family; you can see one in the picture if you look carefully. Nozomi's mother brought some hand-made dragonfly brooches that my mother loved. Later in the evening, we met again for a short time at the beach between where we were staying and watched the sunset together. We returned to the condo and hotel to recover from jet lag and get ready for the next day's adventures.
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