Long trip - good day for it though

Aloha from Waikiki Beach in Hawaii! I arrived at the hotel about an hour ago after a long trip.

My alarm went off in Singapore at 3am on Thursday (9am on Wednesday in Hawaii). I flew to Tokyo where I had an 8 hour layover. Thankfully they have what they call dayrooms. You rent them by the hour and you get a private room with a bed, shower, bathroom, etc. It only cost $30 US for 6 hours. Initially I wasn't too sure but it was super clean and was so incredibly nice to have a quiet place to nap instead of sitting around the airport lounge area with lots of other people. Here's a picture of what it looks like:

I would highly recommend on of these if you have a layover of longer than 3 hours. It is well worth the peace and quiet and especially nice to be able to lie down instead of sitting.

I boarded the flight to Honolulu at 8:00 pm Tokyo time Thursday (7 pm Singapore and 1 pm on Wednesday in Hawaii). It was a packed flight and other than the flight crew I think I was one of less than 20 Westerners on the plane. It was an uneventful flight and we landed in Honolulu at around 9 am on Thursday in Hawaii (3 am Friday in Singapore).

I am now at the hotel waiting to head back to the airport to pick-up Alan. According to Delta's website he is scheduled to land at 2 pm local time (8 pm EDT). I can't wait!!!

So, in case any of you don't know, today is my birthday. This will truly be the longest birthday that I have ever had. I've already been awake (on and off) for 26 hours and have another 13 left in the day here in Hawaii. I'm guessing I won't make it to midnight but is pretty cool to be able to celebrate my birthday near both sides of the international date line. Also, I'm thinking this may be payback to me for all of those days that I have lost flying from the US to Asia.

Am going to go relax for a bit...I'll leave you with the view from our hotel room...