Narita Nirvana, Redux
Writing from the new* Red Carpet Club at Narita International Airport, during a 3 hour layover. Got off my upgraded flight from Taipei a little over an hour ago, and headed into my personalized shower suite. Now I'm going to let you in on a personal detail here, that is how good I am feeling about myself today...
I hate using the restroom when I travel. Actually, not just when I travel, but rather, I just hate using the restroom in any public place. Sometimes, maybe, you get a fairly clean looking restroom and it's bearable... but god, have you ever tried taking a dump 10 hours into a flight in an airliner lavatory? I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it. I can't imagine how hard it must be as a woman; at least as a guy I don't have to touch anything to pee. Yuck...
Okay, back to the point. So one of the nice things about taking a shower at Narita is that you get a whole bathroom to yourself, that has just been cleaned just for you. So it's like taking a dump in a hotel room... not quite home, but definitely clean. Hell, cleaner than home if you know me. That and right afterwards, you just step into the shower and come out a little later squaky clean. They even give you basic toiletries, though no hair goop and deoderant. The shower heads even have a basic pulsating function that almost seems like a water massage. Ahhh... what a great way to decompress after a trans-Pacific flight, or even just because you didn't get up early enough this morning to take a shower before heading for the airport in Asia.
So now I'm sitting here lounging. There's a cold glass of beer next to me, some yummy treats, and I'm watching the planes come and go to all points of the globe. I'll probably hit up the massage chairs upstairs in a bit...
Not quite the jacuzzi thing I wrote about a while back, but still a pretty darn close to ideal way to spend a 3 hour layover. It's the dignified way everyone should be able to travel, but if it's going to be reserved for only the few, man I hope I keep on being one of the few.
* New, see, because it's been more than two years since I've flown to Asia, and equally long since the last time I was at this airport. Kind of crazy when you consider, but just a sign of the times I guess. Anyway, this lounge has probably been here forever, but it's new to me. I will say that I lament the loss of the old satellites here at Narita for one reason: there used to be a secret observation area that very few people knew about in each satellite, and I loved going there and just hanging out, watching the planes from a panoramic window. That's gone now. But the showers and WiFi and beer make up for it. Heh.