All went well at the airport today. The eTicket check-in wasn't too crowded and the security went relatively quickly. I saw online yesterday that my ticket was upgraded to BusinessFirst class. I had sacrificed 25k miles to be put on a waitlist. Well it worked. I was able to hang out at the President's Club until boarding (a perk of having a business first ticket).

President's Club offered some bagels and muffins along with juices/coffee and the bar. I had a bagel, grapefruit juice, and a spicy bloody mary. I was also able to grab a Chronicle and send a quick email using their wireless network.

We boarded the plane around 10:15 and were given our amenity kit, slippers, and night shades. Seat 2B. Wow, the seats are nice. Tons of leg room, I can extend my legs and barely touch the seat in front of me. Nice and wide too. We were also given the extensive menu to place our lunch order. I selected the strip steak with the side of spinach, potatoes, and a piquillo pepper stuffed with eggplant and cheese.

There was a lot of food served. I guess they figure full bellies are content. Wine selection was Bordeaux, Burgundy, or Shiraz for the reds. The lady next to me ordered the Shiraz and let out a 'oh my!' when she saw it was Kendall Jackson ;)

The steak was great but man it was HUGE! At least 12oz. I could only eat half after the crab, shrimp, sushi appetizer and salad. Then for dessert, Dreyer's Ice Cream served with caramel, fudge, or strawberry topping. Good grief!

Port, cheese, fruit cart just in case there are any empty spaces left in our stomachs.

Mid-flight snack: onigiri ume - rice ball and Asahi. The flight attendant informed me that I just drank the last Asahi on the plane. Hope its not like Airplane when they run out of coffee.

Watched a really crappy movie called Children of Men. Horrible. Had to fire up the laptop and watch Three Amigos to purge my mind. I'll probably fire up 'The Rock' or 'Usual Suspects' next. Just passing south of Anchorage right now (5:10pm CDT). I wonder what the crews from Deadliest Catch are doing right now. I'm on the south side of the plane so if I look really close I might be able to see Dutch Harbor down the peninsula (not really - its probably 500 miles from where i am).

All went well at the airport and the bus trip to Tsukuba. Got checked in to a room on the 9th floor. Freshened up a bit and had a late dinner downstairs. Then came back up to the room and crashed hard.