day 1 - on the way to japan

(any typing errors are due to the wacky japanese keyboard)

04/06/07 11.25
as i am writing this first entry in my travel journal the actual travel hasn`t even begun yet. i am sitting in the boarding area of dusseldorf airport waiting for the beginning of the boarding for my flight to milan (no direct connections to osaka). one ear is listening to the constant announcements, calling peaple to their respective gates and flights. the other ear is listening to the flower kings` devil`s playground (i almost forgot to pack my ipod!). the last time i went to japan i had to change planes in vienna and everything went smoothly. this time i`ll definitely have to try to get some sleep on my second flight. when i arrive in japan it`ll be 10am and they`ve got plans for the entire day, woohoo. most likely i`ll even be asked to hold a speech in front of some 50 japanese.

　　　　　　14.25
i`ve arrived in milan. everythingwent smoothly so far. i`m sitting in the transfer bus to my plane for osaka now. as expected, i am surrounded by japanese people. not too many who look like they were here for business though.

20.14 + x
i`m on the plane to japan. i think we left on time, it`s been a few hours. i`ve read, i`ve had lunch... or dinner, who knows, ad i`ve tried to sleep. i didnt manage to get a movie running on my tv screen but i`m almost convinced that it`s some sort of technical problem. anyway, the plane is obviously full of japanese people, some who may be italian and surprisingly - a lot of empty seats. i`ve got the whole row for myself and i intend to use my space,haha. we`re in the night zone right now and it`s beautiful outside. i`ve never seen such a sky (well, excluding my last trip to japan, of ocurse). the dark landscape runs over into the red glow of the horizon. the glow itself gets more orange and even yellow before it turns into the most unusual shade of green below the dark blue of the night. the flight computer tells me that there are exactly 6 hours left before i`ll arrive. we`re currently above omsk in the world famous western suberian lowlands, just a tiny distance from nowosibirsk. nie place for a plane crash. i gut myself a cup of coke, kinda contraproductive, considering that i was trying to sleep merely 20 minutes ago. although, time is becoming a strange concept when you`re traveling the world. while my flight is taking 11 hours and 45 minutes, i`ll arrive 18 hours and 45 minutes later at my goal. 7 hours get added along the way. a quick division tells me that for every 1.67857142 seconds of my flight another second gets added. in other words, every second is actually 1.5957 seconds long... does that make sense? is it even correct? who cares, gotta try to sleep.