Sorry this entry is really long, but then again, so was my trip.
I’ll include pictures to mitigate the boredom
So it all began at 10:00 in the morning on Sunday June 8th, eastern time. (I’ll be changing time zones more often than most people change their …something that people change really often)
10:00 AM – arrive at airport, bright eyed, excited to go, the requisite 3 hours before my flight. The first leg of my 3 legged trip is Detroit.
10:15 AM – finish checking in and getting through security. Shoot. Now I have roughly 2.5 hrs before the flight to just…twiddle my thumbs.
10:20 AM – befriend the only other Asian people at this gate. They are going to Shanghai and will be on the same plane until we reach Osaka. Begin speaking in Chinese, fully. This is fun.
12:20 PM – board plane. Yay!
12:42 PM – supposed departure time. As usual, we’re a bit late in getting going but we start to taxi as soon as everyone’s fastened in
12:50 PM – we have gone in a circle. What?
12:55 PM – “Um we’re having some trouble with one of the engines. It’s starting hotter than it should.” Oh good. We can’t fly until the mechanic fixes that. They promise that one is on the way.
1:05 PM – from Washington DC. Why does the airport have no mechanic?????????
1:10 PM – They let us off the plane, and tell us that we can leave our carry ons if we want. I for one am not nearly that optimistic, so I take mine. Oh well, at least I get to use the restroom.
1:20 PM – get in line with everyone else from my flight. I’m not even quite sure what to ask but I figured, might as well start standing in line. My connection in Detroit is at 3:40 PM.
1:40 PM – this is the slowest line ever. In fact, we have yet to move. I’m the 5th person in line, so …
2:50 PM – finally get to the desk. Turns out the 3:40 pm is the only one leaving to Osaka for the day. So I might have to go home again and come tomorrow. This is just absurd since I’ve been waiting for SO LONG. Will I ever get to Taipei?
3:00 PM – he puts me on a 6:10 pm plane to Detroit, 9:20 pm from Detroit to Amsterdam. We get to Amsterdam at 11:15 AM Amsterdam time, leave at 8:45 PM Amsterdam time and get to Taipei at 6:45 PM Taipei time. Because I’m sometimes time illiterate, I thought that this meant that I was getting in 4 hours earlier than planned. Sweet, I thought. But this was not to be. It actually meant that I was getting in 20 hours after I thought I would. That’s a whole extra day of traveling, which I didn’t think would be bad. But little naïve me had no idea.
5:40 PM – board the plane first because I’m first class (free upgrade!)
5:50 PM – did I say that I boarded the plane? I meant the sauna. Yup.
6:10 PM – any minute now, pilot dear
6:15 PM – “um ladies and gentlemen, we’re having some problems with our paperwork. And also, we need fuel.” ?!?!?! Aren’t those things that they take care of before putting people on the plane?
7:20 PM – we liftoff. Yea that’s a whole hour of sitting. I ended up moving to let a couple sit together and sat next to a Navy Commander instead. He was pretty entertaining. So pretty much 9 hours after I get to the airport, I leave. It’s only an hour flight, btw. Good.
8:45 PM – we arrive at Detroit. I walk down to the gate of my next flight, where they tell me it’s final boarding already. Jeezie petes. I get on the plane and I’m in an aisle seat. Thank goodness. With my overactive bladder and penchant for profuse water drinking, me in the window seat is probably the worst case scenario to happen to all involved.
9:20 PM – scheduled departure time. But of course, I’m on the plane. So there’s just no way that we can leave on time. We’re actually waiting for people whose flights have been delayed due to earlier storms. We’re the last one to Amsterdam of the night, so anyone left behind would have to wait until morning.
9:40 PM – latecomers arrive. We start to taxi.
9:45 PM – “So we started the engine and there seems to be a problem.” Of course there is.
11:15 PM – we finally depart. Now that I’m not worried about getting to Amsterdam, I realize that I’m starving, having eaten last a bowl of chili at 4:00.
12:00 AM – we get a tiny bag of pretzels. I eat them and consider as a side dish also eating my own hand. Decide that I’ll probably need the hand later.
1:00 AM – start watching Horton Hears a Who, but am semi exhausted.
2:00 AM – DINNER AT LAST!!!!!!! I got this curried chickpea dish with spinach, a piece of cheese and crackers, 2 cookies that I saved, and a very sad iceberg lettuce salad. Finishing Horton Hears a Who, which is so hilarious and so cute.
3:00 AM – I cried during Horton Hears a Who. I hope that that’s just because of my exhaustion. Or dry contacts. I drift off the sleep.
5:45 AM – WHY AM I AWAKE? Ooo breakfast. Biscuit + egg + cheese. Much too salty but I’m much too sleepy/hungry to care.
12:30 PM (Amsterdam time) – (6:30 AM my time) crap we’re getting off the plane. I’ve got 8 hours ahead of me. Me and airport will become very good friends.
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