Trip journal 1 2/20/2008
I was tempted to write this out on paper, but as we don’t have a chance to use the internet on the laptop anyways, thought I’d blow the battery on the plane and type it out….so much easier to cut and paste it into the blog later!
The morning started off interesting, to say the least….I woke up after 3 hours of sleep or so, and went ahead and got ready to go…Mark was up shortly after me (I have this habit of waking him up…heehee) so we went ahead and got ready to go, even though we were an hour early. I did a quick check of emails before heading out, and had a nice little note in our inbox from the airline that things were all scheduled on time for the journey.
We had a non-eventful trip to the airport….I was grateful that we flew out of XNA, only an hour away (or so) in NorthWest Arkansas. It was warmer than I thought (we’re due another set of ice storm days on Thursday and Friday…safely after we are gone.). The airport was hustling with people and we were happy to get the trip really going.
When it was our turn to check in at the counter, the attendant suggested that Mark go ahead and scan his passport at the kiosk (right in front of her desk at the counter). I guess they think that it will genuinely go faster for us that way….but SURPRISE!! What WE got was an immediate notice that one of our flights was CANCELLED. Really. It was the flight from Tokyo to G, it suddenly went from a FULL flight to not having a crew to fly the plane….and in a totally foreign land to us…and we didn’t even plan by bringing along an English/Japanese dictionary!
Of course she hmmmm’d and haaaa’d, looked at her screen, talked to one of the other attendants, tried to come up with a plan. She mentioned us not flying out till later in the afternoon on American, or another airline, that would take us through California, and I secretly wondered “hmmmm, could it lay over there….or in Hawaii??” Then she used her better judgment and made a call to their call center, where someone found that the leg of the flight we needed to take was almost identical to one being flown by All Nippon Airline (now, have YOU heard of that….because we sure haven’t!). Of course, we graciously took the ticket vouchers (without a seat assignment) and headed down through security, realizing our day was starting off in the right direction, although just a little more adventure on the calendar.
We were able to call J and let her have a head’s up that there was change in the air, even if we don’t know if it’s a bad one or not. We’ll ultimately have the last night to catch up if there is a delay, as our last flight in the country will not leave until Friday morning….giving us plenty of time to get there….we think. ;)
We had an uneventful, but cramped flight to Minneapolis/St Paul, and had a couple hours there to eat, try to get on line, then call our other daughter Melissa and have her do the leg work for us. The airline is a partner with one of the larger carriers….United….and she was able to get some information from their web site. We think it will be a larger plane, since it takes off 20 minutes sooner, and arrives earlier still than our original itinerary. If luggage can make the change, we should be able to also. Only time will tell.
The flight now is going fine…smooth…pretty full for a 747….and people are upbeat at this point, which is nice. We’ve had our “dinner”….both had chicken that was described in the menu as “roasted chicken breast with asiago and parmesan crust, carrot and rice mix, green beans…” but in actuality was chicken, green beans, carrots and mashed potatoes…..and it all tasted the same, and shared the same texture! I’m amazed at how they can do that! Mark was lucky to get my shrimp also, and we did get some nice fresh fruit…cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and a large, sweet, fresh, strawberry. YUM. The roll and butter were not bad either.
Now it’s time to gel….we’ve played Five Crowns (Mark was winning so much that I forfeited the last hand for dinner), and watched a few “shorts” on the video system. I’m listening to the on board jazz station and Mark’s got his cd player going….I think he’s trying to sleep. We’re grateful that the plane is much larger than the first one, and we have an extra seat that’s empty in our center row, so he’s taking a little extra space to spread out. I’ve got my shoes off, backpack as a foot stool, jacket rolled up behind my back…..only 8 hours or so to go on THIS flight….it will be just fine!!
I guess I’ll save some battery power for the mystery flight….I’m curious what it will really be like. I continue to look at this as a great adventure and not have any expectations….and so far it’s been fun and exciting….and not really stressful in a bad way, just changes and unknowns. Mark handles it much better than I do, but I haven’t had a meltdown or anything….heehee….
Grace and peace…
m
Showing posts with label flying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flying. Show all posts
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Monday, February 4, 2008
Home again, home again....
We're home now. :)
As much as I miss J and J ALREADY, I do not miss:
1. the smog; it makes a smog alert in L.A. look like blue sky : p
2. traffic; amazing what it's like when there is not bumper to bumper traffic (with everyone using their horns)
3. the noise from all the horns :)
4. msg (I can't wait to see how much body weight I'll lose from getting it out of my system! my legs are so swollen now they look disfigured, despite my getting up and walking often while on the planes)
5. dust; see #1, as I don't know if the black stuff that would come out of my nose was from the smog or the dust (or the smoke...we saw several fires burning in the hills as we were flying out)
6. getting stared at ALL the time
7. having to use the bottled water to brush my teeth (but don't get me wrong...I'm so grateful that there WAS bottled water to brush my teeth!!)
Things I learned....about me, and their life there:
1. I'm in horrible shape!
2. I don't mind being stared at if the person staring smiles and says "hello" (no matter how badly it comes out!)
3. J/J have grown a lot, and I'm really happy for them and the life they have there.
4. I like their friends, and wish we had more time to hang out.
5. I hate stairs (see #1) Going up OR down!!
6. Toilet paper is optional. You might get it in a public bathroom, but probably not. You might get it on a cafe table, instead of napkins, to use on your hands. You'll likely get it in a private bathroom, but no matter where you get it, it does NOT get flushed in the toilet!!
7. Horns are not used there in anger to say "get out of my way", and we didn't see any road rage for as crowded as the roads were. Horns are used to say "I'm here, so don't hit me".
8. The lines on the roads are optional. ALL of them. Even the ones to determine what direction you are traveling in.
9. Traffic signals are optional too....which makes it interesting.
10. Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way there....which makes #8 and #9 quite interesting.
11. Food sold on the side of the road/sidewalk is usually tasty. I don't know how they keep the grit of the road dust off of it, but it's good.
12. I love the people there...not just my kids, but the ones that only know that as home. Despite the icky things, I think I'd go back sometime...even if my kids weren't there....which surprises me....
The N Hotel at G Airport was incredible....we got a king, business class room, with a tub and a shower, for about $100 US. It seemed very luxurious in comparison to all we had seen all week long, but we were thankful to sleep in a bed (and not the airport, like on the way in). Sadly, this cold had my taste buds out of whack so I couldn't really take advantage of the buffet we ate at there, but it looked really good, and what I did eat tasted great. Someone needs to teach the C how to do desserts though....nothing is sweet enough! LOL
The plane rides were all pretty uneventful in good ways....well, we left G late (sat on the plane at the gate for an hour), and sat at XNA for 20 minutes before coming in too. We went through security points at EVERY airport (which seemed weird), and each one had their own standards (i.e.; take off shoes/leave them on, ok to bring water/ or not, etc). Thankfully, all our luggage arrived with us. That's always a good thing.
There was snow on the ground at home, but most of it had melted off, so the roads were fine (although there was still an abundance in the fields). Flying over the remnants of the storms made for a bumpy last leg of flying from Detroit to XNA....but I still slept!
I'm so tired. I took cold meds the entire time in the plane (dayquil, then nyquil) and I slept most of the fly time, but I'm still tired. This cold has me wiped out, so I'm really hoping to rebound quickly now that we're home. We'll see...
It's good to be home. There's a lot to do, but it feels good to be here. I'll always miss ALL my kids company, but there is some level of contentment to be home....wherever it happens to be.
~marina
As much as I miss J and J ALREADY, I do not miss:
1. the smog; it makes a smog alert in L.A. look like blue sky : p
2. traffic; amazing what it's like when there is not bumper to bumper traffic (with everyone using their horns)
3. the noise from all the horns :)
4. msg (I can't wait to see how much body weight I'll lose from getting it out of my system! my legs are so swollen now they look disfigured, despite my getting up and walking often while on the planes)
5. dust; see #1, as I don't know if the black stuff that would come out of my nose was from the smog or the dust (or the smoke...we saw several fires burning in the hills as we were flying out)
6. getting stared at ALL the time
7. having to use the bottled water to brush my teeth (but don't get me wrong...I'm so grateful that there WAS bottled water to brush my teeth!!)
Things I learned....about me, and their life there:
1. I'm in horrible shape!
2. I don't mind being stared at if the person staring smiles and says "hello" (no matter how badly it comes out!)
3. J/J have grown a lot, and I'm really happy for them and the life they have there.
4. I like their friends, and wish we had more time to hang out.
5. I hate stairs (see #1) Going up OR down!!
6. Toilet paper is optional. You might get it in a public bathroom, but probably not. You might get it on a cafe table, instead of napkins, to use on your hands. You'll likely get it in a private bathroom, but no matter where you get it, it does NOT get flushed in the toilet!!
7. Horns are not used there in anger to say "get out of my way", and we didn't see any road rage for as crowded as the roads were. Horns are used to say "I'm here, so don't hit me".
8. The lines on the roads are optional. ALL of them. Even the ones to determine what direction you are traveling in.
9. Traffic signals are optional too....which makes it interesting.
10. Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way there....which makes #8 and #9 quite interesting.
11. Food sold on the side of the road/sidewalk is usually tasty. I don't know how they keep the grit of the road dust off of it, but it's good.
12. I love the people there...not just my kids, but the ones that only know that as home. Despite the icky things, I think I'd go back sometime...even if my kids weren't there....which surprises me....
The N Hotel at G Airport was incredible....we got a king, business class room, with a tub and a shower, for about $100 US. It seemed very luxurious in comparison to all we had seen all week long, but we were thankful to sleep in a bed (and not the airport, like on the way in). Sadly, this cold had my taste buds out of whack so I couldn't really take advantage of the buffet we ate at there, but it looked really good, and what I did eat tasted great. Someone needs to teach the C how to do desserts though....nothing is sweet enough! LOL
The plane rides were all pretty uneventful in good ways....well, we left G late (sat on the plane at the gate for an hour), and sat at XNA for 20 minutes before coming in too. We went through security points at EVERY airport (which seemed weird), and each one had their own standards (i.e.; take off shoes/leave them on, ok to bring water/ or not, etc). Thankfully, all our luggage arrived with us. That's always a good thing.
There was snow on the ground at home, but most of it had melted off, so the roads were fine (although there was still an abundance in the fields). Flying over the remnants of the storms made for a bumpy last leg of flying from Detroit to XNA....but I still slept!
I'm so tired. I took cold meds the entire time in the plane (dayquil, then nyquil) and I slept most of the fly time, but I'm still tired. This cold has me wiped out, so I'm really hoping to rebound quickly now that we're home. We'll see...
It's good to be home. There's a lot to do, but it feels good to be here. I'll always miss ALL my kids company, but there is some level of contentment to be home....wherever it happens to be.
~marina
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