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[06 Apr 2008|08:16pm] |
It is Day two of My Japan journey.
It is 2pm atlantic, and 10am here in sanfranciso
I am sitting here waiting to board my flight to Japan.
Yesterday, was Long. I arrived early for my flight, 8am, having been awake since 5, and having gone to bed at 4.
But the ride ot the airport went quickly and smoothly.
All was well until i got into the line to check in.
Only 4 people were in front of me, all going on the same flight.
So i stood and waited, spoke to the man behind me who was a Washington native (and therefore heading home), and the woman ahead of me who was heading down to florida. both quite nice people.
And so we wait,
and wait
and wait.
9am arrives, and nothing.
The woman ahead of me goes off to find out whats going on.
And discovers our flight has been cancelled.
CANCELLED
Things start moving, I am feeling stressed, and wishing feverently i could just go home.
My journey hasn't even started and I already want nothing more than to go home.
Finnally its my turn at the ticket counter. I am told that my travel agent should have called me, and should have rerouted me.
(stupid Mari Abe)
But the guy took care of it, sending me to Chicago instead of washington.
This is all fine, until he tells me when the flight is leaving.
4:30 in the afternoon.
It's 9:05 in the morning!
But there are no other options, so we tag my bags, and i drag them over to put them over on the conveyor.
Now in the halifax airport you have to drag your own bags, down the hall, after they have been tagged, so they can be x-rayed.
One bag goes up and off.
The other they pull aside to be searched.
I cheerfully move aside with it, I know there is nothing of interest in there.
The guard chats me up, asking where I live, because I look eereily like one of her daughters children, and she is sure she knows me from somewheres. The anonther woman comes over to help, and we all yank open the broken zipper.
Then I see it, my godamn vibrator, just sitting there right on top.
I had meant to stick in a sock.
I didn't care if the X-ray people saw it, and tehy would even hidden in a sock, but its anonther thing entirely for it to be sitting there out in the open, while two strangers search my bag.
They dig around, completely ignoring it, while i completely mortified, pretend it is simply not there.
They find nothing susicious in my bag.
And infact it is my makeup bag that looked suspicious (how, i don't know.....)
So my suitcase goes off on the conveyor..........
And I hurry off.
It is only 9:15 (god that was a loooong 15 minutes...)
I am only a 20 minute drive from my boyfriends place, but he doesn't have a car.
But my grandma, she is also not very far, and she has a car.
Since I have 7 hours before my flight, i use my last quarter to call her.
She picks up, asking me how i'm doing.
I tell her about my flight being cancelled.
She mimes concern.
I ask her if she could pick me up
No, she has to wait for the floor guys.
My only other option would be a cab, which to go back to my b/f's and back to the airport would cost about 80 dollars.
But seven hours!
Anyways, I don't go.
I go off to a computer desk, thinking, well I have my laptop along, with all the seasons of friends, at least I will have something to do.
I sit down on this bizzarely comfortable chair, and pull out my laptop, immediatly realizing that I had actually packed my laptop cord into my luggage.
Which means, no way to power the stupid thing.
So what to do? My laptop has a two hour battery, I have a seven hour wait ahead of me, but then two flights, one to chigago (3 hours) and then to Sanfrancisco, (5 hours), and I figure that using the laptop on the plane, when I am squished into a narrow middle seat is the far better use of its power.
So I pull out a book.
I am about a chapter into my book when i see i small movement.
Its a little chicakdee, then theres anonther, and anonther.
4 in total, tiny little adorable birds, inside the indoor airport.
The land right in front of me, and hop along the ground, pecking for food, or fly around chashing each other.
Its a beautiful sight.
----
so hours pass.... My book is excellent at least, and I spend time wandering around the airport.... boring, boring.
Finnally its time to go through security to catch my flight (which takes all of 2minutes, so i end up having to wait an hour before actually boarding.)
Luckily, witht eh change of flights, my seats also changed, so for both flights I end up with window seats!!!
On the flight ot chicago, there are two empty seats across the aisle, so the woman assigned to the seat next to me, actually moves over there, leaving, wonderfully the two seats all to myself.
The first flight, isn't so bad. although, already I am tired.
I arrive in the MASSIVE chigao airport, and exit the plane, I look around, hoping to go to the bathroom, get something to eat and all that, but i glance up at the clock.
It says 6:12.
My mouth drops open, it couldn't be.
I hastily dig out my ticket.
Godamn, my flight leaves at 6:30, it started boarding at six!
I glance around at the signs, one points me in the direction of the proper gate, i rush in that direction.
I make it in time.
---
The flight from Chicago to San francisco is agonizingly long. I have been blessed with a window seat, but the two seats next to me both contain people. diretly next to me is a man named Sarje. He's really nice, and Engineer in Sanfrancisco.
we don't really talk much though, I am really out of it, being exhausted, home sick, and stressed.
they lay the Movie, The golden Compass. I've never seen it, and though not an excellent movie, intresting, and amusing. The acting of Dakota Blue something is excellent though!
And everytime the plane bumps, I freak out.
I am so passed tired.
I keep thinking about how rare it is that plane crashes happen, but how everyone pretty much dies when they do.
And I can't stop myself thinking about it.
Then i think about how if I was going to die, i'd rather not know ahead of time, like go in my sleep, or something along those lines.
Which is not a good thing to start thinking, because then I start thinking that if I fall asleep the plane will crash.
But it is 2 in the morning, and i am so tired.
But i can't sleep, just in case.
I know its not at all logical, but i can't stop myself from thinking it, and thinking about all the people i would miss.
But as we are reparing for landing, we fly really low of teh water front, I discover that San Francisco is the most beauttiful city I have ever seen at night, the sky is cloudless, the lights are beautiful.
and the plane arrives safely in sanfrancisco.
I get my luggage 9with luckily no long wait at the luggage conveyor or anything!) and without too much difficultly i find where the hotel shuttles come. I drag my luggage, the large overweight suitcase on wheels, whose handle i manged to break, and so have to basically carry, and the other two bags which i have to sling over my sholders, and combined feel like they weight a ton.
I plop them down and wait for the shuttle to the 'good night inn'
shuttle after shuttle passes by, but they are all for the big hotels, the same ones come over and over and over again. I am waiting, swaying on my feet, and shaking, thats how tired i am. I just want to be home, and if not that, somewheres where I can lay down.
I haven't eaten since lunch time (its now 3 or 4 in the morning) because of the stuid chigao thing. but I am too tired to even care.
Finnally an hour later, the shuttle arrives, and transports me teh 5 minute drive to hotel.
I check in ( My first time ever getting a hotel for myself, or staying in one alone!)
The woman marks on a map where my room is.
So I go out the back door, the hotel is more like a motel, so all the doors go outside, and drag my bags down a looong looong path.
I look for my room.
i don't see it.
Why? because it's up stairs.
And the only way to get upstairs, is to take the stairs, no elevator.
i go over to them, and for a minute, i just stand tehre and look at them. I stand there swaying on my feet, thinking about how I was barely able to drag all my stuff this far, how i am literally trembling with exhaustion, and now i have to carry my bags up this long flight of stairs.
I manuver the bags hanging from my shoulders into a better position, and hoist up my gigantic rolling bag. I can barely lift it an inch of the ground, and i half drag, half carry it all upstairs.
I make my way over to the front, and up a few mini steps, but my room is in the back.
I want to cry, those stupid mini steps had just about done me in, and i had not needed to drag everything up them.
I drag my bags around back, and find my room.
I open it up, dump everything inside, and fall onto the bed.
I am too tired to move, or cry, or even sleep.
I just lay there.
After a minute or two, with out the crushing weight of my bags, i get up, put the chain across the door.
And I know I should try and call Tim, my boyfriend. I promised I would.
I desperately want to, but the effort seems like too much.
I have no idea where my phone card is.
I search.
I can't find it.
Now i really start crying.
I don't have the strength to go out, to try and get anonther one, to try and do anything, and I can't afford to just use my credit card to call.
i go and lay back down again, i turn on the tv, find discovery channel, which comforts me because it is my faovrite channel back home, and after a minute, i am calm enough to look for my calling card one more time.
i find it.
Thank god.
Call Tim.
It is so wonderful just to hear his voice.
I am unbelivably home sick, deserately wishing i had never gone on this stupid trip, and just plain miss him.
He was awake, though it was early in the morning, he had been waiting for my call.
and at that moment, it was so worht finding that stupid card.
I let him go after just a few minutes.
But, talking to him made me feel so much better, so much stronger. Like I can actually do this.
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happy