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 SWCJ Trip 2025

Travel Day

Friday, April 11, 2025

When the Star Wars Celebration folks announced that their next event would be in Tokyo, I wondered if I could go.  Japan has long been on my bucket list, and adding Star Wars to it would be awesome.  My family members were interested, too, and it became a serious thought when they realized that it was happening during the niece's Spring Break.  So they thought, let's try to get tickets, and go from there.  They did their trick of having a ton of devices ready to purchase, and I had 3 at my house on different servers.  I never got in.  But they were able to do so multiple times and got my information to purchase my badge and pre-order merchandise.  They also helped the niece's friend's family.  Japan was becoming a reality, and Bro started planning the trip.  They had been to Japan before, so they knew a little more about what they wanted to do.  So I booked some of my own stuff as I was planning on staying a couple of days longer than them, and I booked my own flights.  Bro was in charge of the Disneyland planning.  It maybe started to seem real when I renewed my passport and entered the information that I was planning on going to Japan.  Maybe even more real when I was trying to decide on the luggage situation.  I knew that I would definitely be bringing back a bunch of stuff, so I nestled my regular suitcase into a larger suitcase.  Even when I checked in for my flight, I still wasn't sure that it was real.

I took the day off to avoid being stressed out about packing, and was able to take a shower in the late afternoon to feel a little cleaner than I would be if I just took a shower in the morning.  12 hours is not pleasant to sit by stinky folks, and is also not pleasant if you know you're the one that's stinky.  I asked Lyft for a 7:30 pickup, and my driver was early by a couple of minutes and across the street instead of in front of my house.  He was Armenian and didn't speak a lot of English, but no big deal.  We communicated fine.  I said goodbye to Dad and Wonderpup and we were on our way.  There was a fire on the side of the freeway that slowed traffic, but he still got me to LAX in an hour!  

I was dropped off at Terminal B / Tom Bradley International, then realized that I needed to drop off my bag at American Airlines Terminal 4, which wasn't too far, but I still needed to go back outside to get there.  At first, I was in the wrong section where the privileged members check in.  One of the AA employees commented on my Star Wars shirt, and he asked if I was going to SWC.  YES!  He said that he was going, too!  He was going to fly out next week, and his name is Gary.  Then when I was walking to the peon area, a guy came up to me to tell me that my bag was open.  I asked him if he saw anything fall out, and he said no.  I'm lucky I packed so tightly and nobody had grabbed anything, as I checked my bag to make sure.  

I needed to correct my boarding pass to ensure my TSA pre-check because I was approved after I had booked my flight, and the app was not working right.  Then I left the desk without my Global Entry pass.  What a mess I am!  Lucky for me, I could hear the attendant calling my name!  It was nice to be able to go through TSA Pre-check at the AA terminal and then go through some corridors to get back to Tom Bradley, because it had been a big chaotic in the main terminal.  They had a display of old flight attendant uniforms from the 70s, when they were stylish.  My favorite was the one from Pan Am, mostly because it was so iconic.  Continental was very classy, and Pacific Airways had hot pants!  I also liked the groovy tights that another airline wore.  I don't know why I didn't take pictures, because they were really cool.   

I love to stop at the Duty Free shop!  I went to the Jo Malone section and was disappointed that they had discontinued my favorite scent: blue agave with cacao.  I purchased a different scent from the very nice lady who had me sniff all the different kinds that could work instead.  She was excited that I was on my way to Japan for the first time and could tell that it was a bucket list item for me.

I had two hours before boarding, so I started my journal and watched planes at a totally different gate because there was more activity on the tarmac to watch at this window.  My plane is scheduled to leave shortly after midnight!

My view while I journaled

Next up:  Flying Over The Ocean