For those of you who have seen the VH1 show Best Week Ever this will be familiar to you. For those who haven’t, there is a segment in the show about good things happening to someone meaning “upgrade” and bad things happening meaning “downgrade.” I now present my own version: the Tokyo trip edition.
- Got to fly out of the local airport directly to Tokyo: Upgrade
- Had flight delayed by nearly two hours: Downgrade
- Magically received bump from business to first: Upgrade
- Ran out of water 1/2 way through flight: Downgrade
- Was second person off plane, breezed through customs: Upgrade
- Had to wait for an hour for luggage: Downgrade
- Long wait caused a missed train, and another hour wait: Downgrade
- Paid for train pass, got on nearly empty car: Upgrade
- Found out I was in the wrong car, had to sit in the vestibule: Downgrade
- Negotiated way out of train station: Upgrade
- Had to walk for 20 minutes to the hotel: Downgrade
- Sweat like a pig thanks to 80 F weather: Downgrade
- Wake up every morning at 4am: Downgrade
For those keeping score at home, that is 5 upgrades vs. 8 downgrades. I’m only half way through this trip (which continues for another 6 days) and the downs are already winning. It isn’t looking good for upgrades, but then it wouldn’t be me if it did.