T minus 13 hours and counting!

Just 13 hours "and change" from now, we'll all be on a plane heading from LAX to Tokyo.

Well, most of us anyway....

This season, Sonos has 5 commuters. Kat & I fly up to Oakland from Los Angeles for rehearsals. Derek drives from Reno. Cheryl drives from Grass Valley. And Sunghee, well.... Sunghee flies from Maui to Oakland for rehearsals. Crazy? Probably, but we're kinda fanatical about ringing, so we do it.

Because of the multiple starting locations involved, booking travel for Sonos is always "interesting".

For this trip, Jim, Cheryl, Patti, Sandy, Michele Meenk, Marquise, Lois, David, & Cheryl are are flying from Oakland to LAX via Southwest on Tuesday morning. Gretchen is flying from San Jose. Tess & her husband drove down today with their big pick up truck full of bells and other equipment we need for the tour. Derek flew from Reno to LAX today because there was no way to get him to LAX tomorrow morning before our international flight. Kat & I are meeting all of them at LAX curbside in the morning, while Sunghee is flying from Honolulu to Tokyo all by herself.

Brianne & I got a hotel room near LAX tonight because we live far enough away that we would have had to leave home around 5:30 am to make sure we left enough time to get through the morning rush traffic. Now, we're about 3 miles from LAX and can wake up at a reasonable time.

Of course, we had the usual issues with getting our visas for the trip, compounded by the fact that the package from Japan with our Certificates of Eligibility was held up in the black hole that is Customs for 5 days. I picked up the visas for Kat & me at the LA Consulate on Friday (after a 2 day wait); Sunghee had a friend get hers at the Honolulu Consulate today (after a 3 day wait) and will get it at the airport tomorrow morning; Tess got everybody else's at the San Francisco Consulate this afternoon (after a 3 day wait). It's always fraught getting through the red tape this time of year because the Consulates are closed for Thanksgiving and the day after (plus the weekend), but this year cut it way closer than usual. Kudos to all the Consulate staff for expediting them for us!

Anyway, I have a few more things to square away online tonight before leaving the country for 18 days, so I gotta close this up. Can't wait to be on stage soon!  I am ...