To get to Niseko and the Niseko United ski area on Mt. Niseko-Annupuri, we flew from Bozeman to Denver to Tokyo (Narita) to Sendai and finally to Sapporo. Denver to Tokyo is about 12 hours. We left Denver at noon on Thursday (or should have, but we were flying United) and landed in Tokyo at 4 pm on Friday, having slept some, eaten three meals, and watched several movies. Our flight leaving Tokyo was also delayed, much to our surprise as we had heard quite a bit about Japanese efficiency. In our experience, this cultural trait was trumped by the involvement of airlines. It was snowing in in Sendai when we arrived and we were rushed to our next gate to make sure we made our connection. We shouldn't have worried because that flight was also delayed. While in the air, they threatened to divert the plane due to weather in Sapporo. It was snowing even harder in Sapporo when we finally arrived at about 10 pm after 24 hours of traveling. Mercifully, the taxi driver recognized the name of our hotel and we managed to fit our ski bag into a tiny taxi. We rode in a daze to our hotel and admired the size of the snowbanks along the road.
Katie doing some last minute preparation for our trip in Denver.
