October 10

By Al

We had to catch a train from Nagasaki at 6 AM, so we didn't get much sleep.  Fortunately, the train station was only a 10 minute walk from our hotel.  But, trains in Japan are very punctual, so we had to make sure we were there on time.  The train pulled in and left 5 minutes later, so we didn't have much time to board.  When the train gets there, you have to be ready.  At some stops along the way, I am sure the train did not stop for more than one munute.  People are ready to get off, they get off and out of the way and people get on, luggage and all.

We got to the airport about 2 PM.  Our flight didn't leave until about 7 PM, so we had a wait.  The flight left on time.  Japanese emmigrations was very easy.  So we settled down for a long flight.

Eleven hours later we were in Seattle.  We had a two hour layover.  Four hours after that we were in the Twin Cities with a one hour layover.  Three hours after that, we arrived in New York City. 
Thirty hours after leaving Nagasaki we arrived in New York.  Needless to say, we were tired. 

We got to our apartment.  Two friends from St. Paul had arrived in New York and were staying at our apartment.  They were expecting us back, but thought it was to be the next day.  So, when we arrived at midnight, they were a little surprised.  However, because they weren't exepting us,  we knew they hadn't made any special effort to clean it up; so it was good to know that they were responsible guests.  The apartment was in good shape.

It was good to be home and we were tired, so we didn't do much the next day.