The arrival process at Narita Airport and the 20 hour quest to get to my hotel

In previous blog posts, I told you that I had been warned about the extremely long entry process into Japan. The 10 hour flight went by pretty quickly, but going through all the checkpoints at the airport was every bit as time consuming and frustrating as had been described. 

I took this selfie on the plane before packing up and getting off. We went from a nice cool cabin to a blast of 90 degree F heat as we stepped off the plane. I have had my N95 mask on for the last 20 hours straight, which is getting uncomfortable, but I am happy to stay as safe as I can.

Immediately after getting off the plane, we were escorted up one level to wait for document processing.

They have an abundance of volunteers helping out, and as expected, they have been very friendly and helpful. 

We were then lined up in chairs where we waited for more paperwork processing.

They checked out documents at least 3 times before we got to the processing desk.

As you can see from the long line of people, this process took a long time.

A couple of the men from USA Water Polo decided to kills some time and play cards.

Once our papers were checked and cleared, we were off to the Covid testing area. Each of us is given a test tube with a funnel and we are asked to spit in the tube until it gives them enough saliva for a proper test. 

Once we gave them our saliva samples, we were escorted into the ANA lounge where we waited at our numbered seat. They said that this process would take about an hour.  

After an agonizing 4 hour wait, we finally got our test results back. People were starting to lose their patience, probably caused by the lack of sleep. 

Eventually some of us got our quarantine passes and were off to the next checkpoint.

And look...we could not even high five! This was posted in the Covid test waiting room, and I just had to take a picture of that.

The next stop was my favorite. We were done with all the Covid stops and we finally made it to the validation counter. This is the counter that I look forward to at every Olympics. It is here that they take our paper credentials, and make them official, after they add an RFID tag and laminate them.

I saw this sign as I headed down the escalator to baggage claim and thought "Yes! We are finally in Japan!"

I am now writing this blog post from a press bus as we make our way from the Narita airport to the main transportation hub at the Olympic Park. It has been 25 hours since I have slept and I probably have another 3 hours before I get to the hotel. But, the good news is that I made it through the entry process, tested negative, got my luggage, and am ready to get some Olympic photos to share with you all.

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