Saturday started with the second Waldorf breakfast. They had saved the same table from Friday, greeted everyone with welcome back, remembered drink orders, joked around with the group, and surprised everyone with photo gifts saying happy anniversary and happy birthday. Above-and-beyond service was now officially a repeatable process.
The group took a taxi to the bullet train station, then picked up bento boxes and fruit mochi for the ride. Return-day morale requires carbohydrates and denial.
The Limited Express was an option, but the chosen plan was the two-train route: JY first, then the Skyliner. Google Maps gave the total, so everyone reloaded Suica with that amount, because math briefly looked like it was going to help.
Caitlin did not have service, so she jumped onto Zach's hotspot. The card got charged, but the Suica balance did not reload, which is a very modern way for technology to say no.
Then Zach had never actually been tapped in at Tokyo Station, so at the first transfer the gate would not let him out. That got sorted, but not before the first Skyliner left without the group.
Then came the next discovery: the Skyliner needed actual tickets. Those were bought, everyone still had money left on their Suica cards, and the official conclusion became obvious: the leftover balance was the reason to come back.
The Suica story still was not finished. At the airport station, everyone did have to tap out, and Caitlin's card still would not load. More attempts produced more pending Suica charges, then staff used Zach's card to scan her out. Travel technology remained committed to the bit.
All trip, Sarah kept trying to use Siri and getting either no answer or the wrong level of help. Ashley would use Siri and it would work perfectly, because apparently Siri had chosen a favorite.
On the train, Sarah tried Siri again, got no response, put her foot down, and then Siri came alive at full volume in the quiet train car. Helpful, technically. Socially, a small attack.
Sarah left her Kindle in the room. The hotel offered to ship it to the United States, then hit the battery problem: apparently the Kindle could cross continents with Sarah, but could not follow her alone. Zach's official response was, 'I didn't know you had a Kindle. Welp, I guess now you don't.'
Security and immigration were mostly smooth after that. At the airport, Ashley would split off at Terminal 2 while Zach, Caitlin, and Sarah would head to Terminal 1.
Back in Colorado, Caitlin got booted out of the Global Entry line because hers had expired, and a TSA agent was yelling at people at full volume. Welcome back to America.