It wasn’t until August 7 that we finally pulled the trigger on purchasing tickets back to San Francisco. We had literally been stalking united.com every morning and evening for at least a week until the desired seats became available (direct flight from Narita to San Francisco, 9 hours, business class “saver” for only 65,000 points) for Monday, August 11.
Before August 7 we looked forward to going home, but once the date was set in our calendars, the realization that we were finally going home slapped us hard in the face. Our desire to breathe the Bay Area air, our excitement to fall asleep in our comfortable bed, and our yearning to get back into the rhythm of daily life quickly accelerated from there. We were soon counting the days to pack up one last time.
Even before our final days, we were both already writing up long lists of to-do’s for our return; we would only have a week and a half before taking off again for Burning Man. We clearly were looking forward to diving back into our busy lives in San Francisco.
On our way to the airport we took our final shot of backpacking in the subway in Tokyo:
Soon we were at Narita Airport. We boarded on time, departed on time, and landed on time; it was an incredibly smooth flight with hardly any turbulence and an effortless landing. What made the journey more superb was the business class service and food. THE FOOD. Oh my. It was the best food I’ve had on a plane, even yummier than the royal laurel first class food I had on Eva Air from SF to Taipei.
We selected the business class seats in the 747’s upper deck, where it was quiet and private. 
Our comfortable, wide seats configured into beds. 
All business class window-seat passengers got a HUGE storage bin. 
And all business class passengers received a nice little care package for the flight. The care package included mints, hand sanitizer, a tissue packet, lip balm, hand cream, ear plugs, hair comb, pen, socks, sleep mask, and toothbrush/toothpaste. 
Finally, the FOOD. OMG. In addition to the usual non-alcoholic beverages, they served bottomless champagne and a selection of white wines and red wines. We both chose the red wine, which was delicious. Chris claims he gained weight from the flight. Here was the lovely menu:
Our appetizer seriously had some of the best salmon ever:
For the main course, I chose the chicken. Chris selected the beef. We both agreed my chicken was tastier.
Dessert was amazing, and I’m not just saying that because it was paired with a port. The sundae was huge. Truthfully, we should have shared the sundae but we each had our own.
It wasn’t too hard to fall asleep after finishing all the courses. We were over stuffed and suffering from food coma. Chris even had to point out that the regular cost of a business class ticket was comparable to a two or three year salary from someone in Myanmar. In that regard it almost felt too lavish.
Our “bedtime” only lasted a total of four hours, as we were woken up again for breakfast during this already short-ish flight. Because I was still full from dinner, I just opted for the simple breakfast of cereal. Honestly, due to the comforts of business class seats, I almost wished the flight was longer.
It was the perfect summer day in San Francisco when we landed; sunny, clear, and refreshingly cool. One of our closest friends picked us up from the airport and took us home, where we spent the remainder of the day struggling to fight jet lag. The Romping and Nguyening SE Asia + Japan tour was officially over and now it was time to plan for the annual Romping and Nguyening Burning Man Extravaganza!