So, adventure Japan began on March 23 with the alarm ringing at 5:00 am. Now a 5:00 am wake up would not bother me on most days but being excited and unable to settle into sleep made that 5:00 am alarm more like an electric shock sent into my body.
I would be on my own several days while Kenny toured Nissan and spent a day with one of his friends. Knowing that we would be getting around by train and I would be wrestling luggage on my own, we each packed only one suitcase and our laptops.
Checking in at Charlotte Douglas airport went smooth. No long lines and security was a fast process. Grabbed a cup of coffee and waited at our gate for our flight to Chicago. Then it started.......Flight number XYZ is delayed 5 minutes, 10 minutes, then 30 minutes..... the crackle crackle of the intercom then announced that due to bad weather flight number XYZ would not land in Chicago until sometime after our All Nippon flight from Chicago to Japan was to take off. Kenny was up and at the counter before the entire message was finished. Within 20 minutes they had us rerouted onto a United Airlines flight to Washington Dulles then to Narita. Again, the airport intercom cracked a message about moving the Helman luggage to a new flight. The ticket change also meant that the time we had to make it through customs, after landing in Japan, and make the connecting flight to Fukuoka was only one hour and twenty minutes ( only one other flight that day from Narita to Fukuoka and it was full so if we missed that flight it would cause us to spend the night in Tokyo). So, while I am happy that we will be leaving on our scheduled date, I am disappointed that we are now flying United and not All Nippon Air. ( more on ANA vs United fights on a later post)
The flight to DC and the flight to Japan went well. We got off of the plane at Narita and made a dash to collect our luggage so that we could then go through customs. The luggage made it's way around the carousel and my medium sized black Samsonite was among the first to make it around. Kenny's luggage was another story. All of the luggage had been removed from the conveyor belt and Kenny's large hard shell suitcase was not to be seen. The luggage attendant scanned the luggage ticket and said " I am so sorry but your luggage is in Washington DC." He showed us where we needed to go to fill out delayed luggage paperwork. Tic toc tic toc...were we going to make the next flight? The lady working the luggage counter said that it would be the following evening at 8:10pm before the luggage could be in Fukuoka but our plans were to be in Takeo the next morning. If we wanted the luggage to be delivered to Takeo it would take another two or three days. She explained that most workers had been sent to the north to help with the disaster and the lack of man power would make it difficult to make the delivery. Tic toc tic toc only 20 minutes left to make the Fukuoka flight. Agreed to stay an additional day in Fukuoka, signed some paperwork and made a mad dash to customs. Because we did not have all of our luggage when entering the country they needed more paperwork. Tic toc tic toc. A mad dash to the gate where they are already loading a bus to take us to the plane. A massive sigh of relief that we had made it onto this flight.
Landed safe and sound in Fukuoka. At this point I have been awake for a solid 27 hours. Try as I might, sleep never found me on any of the flights. As we walked out of baggage claim to our great surprise Yuko and her mother were standing there waiting for us! It has been six year that we last saw Yuko. She is not a big internet user so we only talk to her once a year at best. Tears flowed and many many hugs. This was the first time that we had met her mother and it was very emotional. Yuko lived with us for 11 months when she was 16 years old and I had always hoped that I would have the chance to see her mother. Bleary eyed and disorented, we were thankful to have her escort us to our hotel near Hakata Station.
Stay tuned for more "Grand Adventure Japan"
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