We left Narita to Atlanta on the 20th and arrived the same day.
So our road trip to the world started on the 20th but the day was just travel day and what we've done was when to Petco and bought dogfood then checked in the Red Loof Inn Atlanta Smyrna Hotel.
Oh, speaking of the day we arrived ATL, the airport was more than huge (see Terminal Layout) and the flight from Japan (Delta 280) usually uses concourse E (the end of this side) then ride tram to concourse T (the end of the other side) for about 10min.
Anyway, 6 people and 5 dogs travelling together as Team Japan but it became 2 and 4 after we got off the plane.
I thought we lost 2 in somewhere and the 2 were already wainig us to get the end.
(they didn't go through quarantine gate, hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm)
And that's the first travel story of us and the second was happened in front of the airport.
So we had 6 suitecases and 5 dog-crates and few bags to be set in a van but couldn't find the way of folding a seat in the back row to get some space.
We struggle with the matter about 30min. or more, then this one man came up and helped us to get off the seat.
He had tattoos on his both arms that says "大工"("carpenter" in Chinese character) and "修理工"("fixer")
and left the airport with very old ramshackle truck.
All Japanese players were very touched by the "knight on the truck" who had gone by the wind. LOL
And that's the second story.
The first day ends nicely with Italian food and everyone got good sleep including dogs that put up with 13hrs. of long flight, I guess.
Then next day was the day of going to vet to get our dog's health certifications and USDA.
The Hyperflite Skyhoundz made appointments in advance for us at 10:00 and 14:00 (Thank you!) and Ryan, the coordinator, led us very well and manage our time perfectory so there was NO WORRIES over any proceeding. (Good job!)
After we've finished everything we had to be done, Ryan took us to the huge mall in rich area in the city (I guess) and we shopped as we wished.
(I had Oakley's new lens at half price! yeeeeeeeeeees!!!)
So, as you can see, we started our "2011 World Championship" peacefully. LOL