Of course, nothing is perfect and this trip is no exception. Thursday was the LONGEST day of my life. I started at 4am Okinawa time with a quick trip to the gym. I didn't do my normal workout group (sorry, Jeanette, you know I love you) as they were doing "The Centurion" and I just couldn't do that knowing I would be on a plane, immovable, for the next day. So I ran the track and steps with Chris, while Lyle ran his 1 1/2 mile. Then I headed home to finish packing.
At 9 Lyle and I headed down to Naha Airport. We enjoyed a Family Mart lunch at the airport while waiting for my boarding time to get a little closer. I boarded my plane at 12:15 and enjoyed a turbulent 2+ hour ride to Tokyo. After disembarking at Tokyo, I walked to my next gate, found the Starbucks and enjoyed a coffee and a Pumpkin Veggie wrap (WAY yummy!)
We boarded at quarter to 5, after going through a second carryon bag check, any people also received a quick pat down from the Japanese version of TSA. I was disappointed to learn the flight was full and I was in a center seat. I did meet a very nice airman, heading home after doing his first tour, a remote to Korea. I couldn't help but notice on his Customs form that his year of birth was 1988....I am so old!
Fortunately, since my morning started early, I was able to fall asleep shortly after dinner service and slept just over half of the flight away. We landed in San Francisco at 9:38, according to my boarding pass my next flight, the one to Santa Ana, was boarding at 10:15. In that short amount of time, I had to claim my bags, go through customs, recheck my bags, go through the security again and find my gate. I found my bags pretty quickly and stood in the customs line for almost 10 minutes, checking my watch CONSTANTLY, knowing I was never going to make my flight. Customs was a breeze, and I was beginning to think I might possibly make it. As I rushed to recheck my bags, I was told my flight was cancelled. So I waited in line with a bunch of other passengers whose flights were also not leaving on time. The lady at the United counter was able to get me on a 12:30 flight to Santa Ana. I rechecked my bags, went through security and found my gate with plenty of time to spare.
I took the opportunity to grab some lunch at a sandwich shop. This was probably the BEST sandwich I have had in a while, Turkey with Avocado on authentic San Francisco Sourdough. YUM!
I finished my lunch and headed back over to my gate, just in time to hear the announcement that this flight has been cancelled due to weather. I got in line with everyone else to try to book a different flight. I was told that the earliest flight to Santa Ana that they had seats for was at 8:45 PM, but if I wanted to fly into Los Angeles I could leave earlier. Since I already knew that LA had a shuttle to Santa Ana, I agreed to go to LA. I was confirmed for a 4 PM flight, and put on standby for the earlier 3 pm flight.
Once again I walked to find my standby gate and settled into a knitting project and a book on tape. I noticed the marquee listing the confirmed and standby passengers and was a bit disheartened to notice I was number 45 of 77 standby passengers, but you never know what might happen, so I waited. At 2 they announced the flight was delayed and wouldn’t be leaving until 4:30. That was okay with me, since I was already confirmed at 4 on a separate flight. I packed up my knitting and walked the terminal to get to my other gate.
When I reached my “confirmed” flight gate I was surprised by the red cancelled sign. I doubled checked the info, sure enough, this flight was cancelled. So I hoofed it back to my standby flight and settled in to wait. At 4 they announced the flight was cancelled, so I headed back over to the customer service counter.
I was given another confirmed seat for Santa Ana at 8:45, but was told I could go on Standby for the 7:15 flight, also to Santa Ana. I agreed, got myself a coffee and a scone, and went to my next standby gate.
I was beginning to wonder if I would ever leave San Francisco. At 6:30 it was announced that the 8:45 flight to Santa Ana was cancelled…. Of course, since this was my confirmed seat! I went up to the check in counter and asked the attendant what my real chances were of getting on this flight. According to the marquee I was standby number 31 and there were 0 seats available. She told me it didn’t look good. I asked about my bags, thinking I would just get a hotel room and try again in the morning. That is when I found out my bags were sent to LA on a separate flight (why wasn’t I on standby for that one? It actually left the airport!). By this time I had been traveling for 26 hours and my face must have shown it. She told me to have a seat, and not leave the gate. They started calling names of people that hadn’t confirmed their seats. At the end, they had 5 seats available. She started calling names. My name was the fourth one called. You KNOW I was on my feet and running before she finished my last name!
I got on the flight and we waited… and waited. We had to wait for the mechanics to finish something up. We were told that unless we received clearance in the next 15 minutes we would NOT be flying into Santa Ana. Fortunately, we got our clearance and got underway. We landed at Santa Ana at 10:15 PM. Since I didn’t have any bags to claim, I filed my missing luggage voucher and grabbed a taxi to my hotel.
I got my room, dropped off my backpack, and walked up the block to the 7-11. I bought water, and some trail mix for breakfast, was a bit upset that they didn’t sell Febreze, then headed back to my room. I rinsed my clothes the best I could, laid them in front of the heater and turned it on High.
Maybe tomorrow will be better!
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