May 12 2026 - Nairobi to Bangkok to Japan Travel Day

Location: Kenya Summary:Today, May 12th, 2026, I started by dropping off my rental car at the airport with the help of Steve Mogul, who handled all the administrative details remotely — pretty impressive that it all worked without an office on-site. From there, I caught a 9 to 10-hour flight to Bangkok. With a 6-hour time difference from Nairobi, I ended up with about a 9-hour layover in Bangkok. But honestly, Bangkok's airport is built for long layovers — there's so much to see and do, including sampling Thai food, so I didn't even feel the need to go into town. The next flight left on time and got me to Haneda Airport in Tokyo at about 7 a.m. on the 13th. Everything went smoothly. My son Nathan, who built this whole website, picked me up from the airport. The morning train commute made it take a bit longer, but it all worked out. I then got to spend wonderful time with Nathan, his wife Medea, and my grandson Noah, who is about 20 months old. Watching Noah try to put words together was a real highlight — he's getting there and he's such an exciting young person. After a great visit in Yokohama, I headed to the US on the 19th, arriving in LA. Re-entering the country was a bit of a hiccup because I'm on a green card and had been away longer than the typical 6-month allowance. I hadn't given enough attention to getting the extended permission beforehand. Fortunately, all I had to do was show I didn't have a permanent residence elsewhere, and having traveled through 32 countries made that pretty clear. It was time-consuming going through immigration and customs, but everything turned out fine. From LA I flew on to Seattle, had just enough time to stay one night, and planned to pick up my car the next morning. More on that tomorrow!