A Long Series of Flights

The Amazing James dropped us off at the airport at around 4 a.m. Gus was up late picking up Dad from the airport, so no one slept more than 5 hours (and I only slept around 3). Then we flew to Minneapolis, sleeping on the way. Ate breakfast in Minneapolis and had a six-hour layover. Unluckily, Minneapolis has only one interesting thing for children. Luckily, it was right on our concourse, and it was a pretty good playplace. We managed to spend 3.5 hours there, with some effort. Then had some lunch and got on the LOOOONG flight.

Which wasn't too bad, actually. We all slept a few hours here and there, nothing too long. Gus was hysterical twice when he woke up and found himself still on a plane, but overall he did well. He was amused by the first bit of turbulence and scared as it got worse. I barely missed throwing my glass of water all over my husband (he woke up not from the turbulence but from the gasps from the passengers).

We landed in Tokyo and took Gus to a playplace. He was NOT in the mood to play, so we headed to the next gate instead. We were afraid that the next flight would be a diasaster, but Gus settled down to watch some movies and was fine. He lost it again as we waited in Immigration and Customs lines, but we all survived (and moved a little faster through Customs as the lady took pity on the family with the freaking-out kid). At 10:30 p.m. we exited the secure area and waited for our Beijing guide, Rose. Gus has a huge crush on Miss Rose.