Early start….but we got to have breakfast first, though the food was still cold.  Tried to down as many things as possible before the 5:45 call to the bus.  Can’t believe this was our last day….would have liked to stay longer and get more things in.  It was a long time, yet not a long time.   

On the bus, it varied between exuberance and sleep deprivation.  People perked up as the clock ticked away.  Comments at the back of the bus….”We’re SO done shopping!”  “We’ve heard THAT line before!”  and since there are a few participants extending their travel “The participant who won’t go away!”  

Little glitch at immigration.someone’s head will roll at the Burma border!  We try to leave, but someone ’s transit papers were not processed when we crossed from Thailand to Burma and then back again. She was waved on there, so now her passport is taken by immigration and she has to wait outside the office while a couple of officers scurry around, another official comes by -looking like the senior officer in charge - he asks a couple of questions, shook his head: ”they should have processed the papers”…..like yeah. Anyway, her papers were processed with an apology for the wait, but they needed to track the papers, so we’re good to go.  

Got to Narita. We split up into those who changed to an earlier flight, and the rest of us with some time on our hands.  Duty-free shops galore - nothing like a captive audience - so some of us explored the two terminals and looked for food….what else is new?  

Arrived in Honolulu. Someone remarked something to the effect:“I’m actually glad of the layover; the thought of getting on another plane right now is NOT what I’d like to do.”   Going through the customs, an officer remarked, “Didn’t a whole bunch of you come through earlier?”  Questions, questions, questions: “where did you go, where do you teach, how long were you gone, do you have any live plants, did anyone ask you to buy anything for them???….like we would. Going to “Burma”…”Red Alert!”  and I have a bag with “Laos” emblazoned across it!   Anyway, I passed, but I see another member was pulled over.  Hopefully it was painless.  

I had a break; had soup noodles and sushi with a friend, showered and am refreshed for the next leg to San Francisco.  During the flight to Honolulu, we figured out that some of us will have taken 17 flights by the time we reached home!  Hope everyone had good flights getting home, and those who were still traveling in Asia are having more wonderful experiences and contacts.