Monday morning around 11 am we said goodbye to our families and headed to LAX. Our flight from LAX left that afternoon at 4 pm. 13 hours later we arrived in Taipei, Taiwan. We had a couple hours layover there which wasn't bad. We then left and 4 hours later we arrived in Bangkok. This was a bit of a teaser for us because although we will be living in Thailand, our first stop was actually Japan. So we went through customs and then turned right back around and re-entered the airport. It was 1 am at that point and our flight out of Bangkok left at 5 am. At 5 am we left Bangkok and about 6 hours later (maybe 7) we landed in Tokyo. Immediately we left the airport, hopped on a bus, and took a 2 hour bus ride to the other Tokyo airport (I know-we're crazy). We had some time to hang out at the new airport, got some food, and then left Tokyo for Sapporo (which is in northern Japan, and yes, where they make the beer). We landed on August 5 around 8:30 pm Japan time and then took an hour and a half bus from the airport to our friend's house (Tubber Lopez from SB) in Sapporo. As soon as we arrived, we had some difficulty finding their place but luckily 4 Japanese guys spent 30 minutes helping us out. First impression of Japan: clean, quiet, and everyone is VERY nice and helpful.

All in all, it took us 2 days to get here but it wasn't that bad. You're probably wondering why we did this trip from hell as opposed to flying direct. The simple answer: it was cheap. It was sad flying from LA to Taiwain and realizing that we were flying over Japan. But $1,400 of savings is pretty worth it, considering how expensive Japan has been.

We'll write more about Sapporo later.