Well, I am on the road. Initial travel legs are behind me. A domestic leg from Melbourne to Sydney and an international leg from Sydney to Tokyo, where I am attending my 5th APEC Women Leaders Network meeting.
When I got to Melbourne airport the very kind airline lady decided to book me on an earlier flight from Melbourne to Sydney 'so I wouldn't have to rush' to make the international transfer. Wouldn't you know that the earlier flight had mechanical trouble and we sat on the tarmac for close to an hour. In Sydney I managed to hitch a ride with a nice indigenous bloke driving one of those airport buggies who decided that I flagged him down because I was buggered ('you must be buggered - I am').
Arrived in Japan @ 6 AM today --my departed father's birth day -- without any further hitches and run into several women from the Australian delegation and we all get on the airport limousine bus together into town. Haven't been to Japan for two decades - two hours into central Tokyo later, I am newly impressed with the uber efficiency of the Japanese, if a bit cold to the touch - super clean street, super manucured parks. So much for my location on the google map, which would have you think I'm in the middle of the mountains rather than in a concrete jungle ..
Despite numerous emails requesting an early hotel check-in, the hotel manager is unmoved and won't let us check in until 2 PM, so we go down to the coffee shop -- where coffee is $10/cup -- and start our women's business...
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