Swift Flight From Tokyo for the Big Game

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Great news, sports fans.   American recording artist Taylor Swift arrived safely at LAX in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon on a nonstop flight from Tokyo with plenty of time to spare in order to make it to Las Vegas for this evening's Super Bowl LVIII.  The game can go on as scheduled!

The singer's motivation for making the long, hurried trip back across the Pacific was to watch her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, play in the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49er's.

Ms. Swift finished the last of her sold-out concerts in Tokyo at 9:30 Saturday night, Tokyo time, and was rushed to Haneda Airport where she boarded her private jet for a non-stop flight across the world's largest ocean to California.  Her jet landed at LAX in Los Angeles at 3:30 in the afternoon, also on Saturday, a full six-hours earlier than her concert had ended.

The singer, of course, lost a day on the flight to the US when her jet crossed the International Date Line, an imaginary demarcation that runs in somewhat of a zig-zag pattern from the North to South Poles.  (One of the places where the International Date Line zigs - or perhaps zags - is the narrow sea passage between Alaska and Russia - and where Sarah Palin can reportedly see it from her house!)

I have crossed the International Date Line six times in my life, three while heading west and into tomorrow, and three while flying east into yesterday.   Sometime in the wee hours of Sunday morning Taylor Swift's jet crossed the International Date Line and she and the plane's crew were suddenly back in the wee hours of Saturday morning - with plenty of time to get home before the Super Bowl.

The last two times that I flew from Tokyo to the US (once to Dallas in 2011 and the other time to Seattle in 2012),  I rode in packed monster air buses.  I don't remember now how many humans those planes seated, but they were full both times and both times I was in the middle of the center section which seated eight across.  There were always plenty of crying babies, and, on the flight to Dallas, I sat behind a lady who brushed her hair for most of the trip.  

Taylor Swift, a billionaire (a real one, not one like Trump), probably has a bed on her private jet, and a personal  masseuse who sings her to sleep.  Good for her.  I'm glad that one of us gets to travel in comfort and style.

The international pop star also has a home in Beverly Hills which she likely stayed at last night, but if she did venture on to Vegas, I'm sure she had no trouble finding a luxurious suite somewhere along the strip.  

Taylor, it's been too many years since I've been to Las Vegas, but there used to be a really great all-you-can-eat prime rib buffet at Harrah's that was just $8.95.  It's probably gone up, but check with the concierge at your hotel and you might be able to score some coupons.  A big boy like Travis could make out like a bandit on a deal like that!

Go Chiefs!