The End

That's all. The next day we spent some more time in the Ginza, then departed by shuttle bus for Narita airport. (You take a shuttle bus, because Narita is an air terminal that you don't want to get to by cab--it's some 60 kilometers from the City, and the cab fare is $200 US!)

When we got to the airport, we paid our departure tax into a vending machine.. That was just a final reminder that Japan is truly the land of electronic automation!

Our flight left around 5 p.m. Because of the jet stream, it took only 11 hours on the return trip (as compared to 13 hours for the trip from Chicago.) Hey! Hey! Let's hear it for the jetstream! In the process we crossed the international date line, flew into yesterday, and arrived some two hours earlier than we left (i.e. 3 p.m. Chicago time on the day of our departure). Mind-boggling! But that's how we felt about the whole trip! It was equal to our most fantastic dreams.

And we're glad that you joined us on the trip (at least photographically) and stayed with us to the end. Thanks for coming!

Bye,

Rick and Dot

Return to the Main page