My adventure began at 4:00 in the morning after a fitful night of sleep. I was uncomfortable sleeping without Rob, I was concerned about the trip, I was worried I would sleep through the alarm, and I was freaking out that life as I knew it was about to totally change. All-in-all, not the best thing for a good night's rest.
Stephi and Jacob were kind enough to call at 4:17 and check that I was indeed up and on my way. I got to the airport just fine, checked in, and the man assured me that my bag would safely go from Tucson, AZ, to Taipei, Taiwan, and although skeptical I went on faith, gave him all my belongings and headed toward the little plane that would take me to LA and to Rob.
Mom and Rob met me outside of the United terminal and we headed toward Tom Bradley (the international terminal). We had a bit under four hours to wait for our flight, but we were anxious so decided just to hang out.
When we got there the terminal was uncharacteristically quiet. We located EVA Airlines, but there wasn't a single soul behind the counter. In fact, the place was deserted. We schlepped the bags around the terminal searching for food and settled at The Daily Grill. Literally a half-hour later we returned to what was once an airport-terminal ghost town, and in true Hollywood fashion, it had been transformed. There were people and lines and employees and families and luggage and security and all sorts of hustle and bustle. We checked in, wound our way through security and settled in to wait for our flight.
The 747 proved to be pretty spacious. (Of course, I had just gotten off the tiniest jet ever, so it could have been perspective.) We instantly took to our business class seats; it may only be a few more inches, but it truly does make a difference.
We discovered all the comforts of not flying coach: slippers, seats that both tilt and recline, tray tables stored in the armrest instead of flopping down in front of you. We had ordered special meals, so we even got served first. The flight attendants did a superb job heating up Rob's Kosher meal main dish, but left everything else frozen, from the fruit to his roll. He managed. My vegetarian meals were distinctly Asian in style. I even had a rice-porridge dish with ginger (Mom would have loved it).
Twelve or so hours and many movies later, we landed in Osaka, Japan. We knew that we'd have a layover and that even though we'd continue on the same plane we still had to disembark, but it wasn't exactly what we expected. We had to take everything with us (yes, we would be returning to the same seats), so we gathered all our belongings and headed up the jetway. We expected an hour or so to leisurely walk through the terminal.
Instead we were herded through the airport and required to go through security again. Why? I have no idea. They even confiscated the water bottle I had purchased in the terminal at LAX. Then they sent us back to the gate we just exited from to wait to board. The airport was hot, stuffy and crowded, but we did have the opportunity to stretch. The interesting thing was that everyone's t-shirts had English on them. You'd figure, being in Japan and all, that the process would be high-tech, but they checked us off using a printout and a highlighter.
An hour later we were back on the plane, sitting back in the same seats. We were exhausted by this time and fell asleep before we were even wheels up. They woke us to eat; even though we had just eaten breakfast, they served us dinner. The wonders of international travel. Rob's Kosher meal proved fairly inedible, and Emily would have loved the fact that my meal came with sushi.
We arrived in Taiwan and made it quickly through customs. Unfortunately, although we were first at the baggage carousel, our luggage was the very last off. When we exited the terminal we were met by both our driver, Mr. Yeh, and a representative from Gladney. They were kind and helpful and delivered us safely to our hotel 45 minutes later.
The hotel is great. The people here are incredibly helpful. The room is really quite nice, but then again I would love any place that gave me slippers! I decided to take a sleeping pill to ensure a good night's sleep, and set about unpacking. Just to note, the Ritz crackers in the mini-bar have vanilla filling.
I took a shower and started to feel quite odd. I had just thrown my body across the world at hundreds of miles per hour, I was on the verge of becoming a mom, and that was the first sleeping pill I every took. It wasn't long before it took effect (important to remember for the future) and soon I told Rob I had to lie down. I don't remember much of anything after that, except for asking who was getting into bed with me. Luckily, it was Rob.
No comments:
Post a Comment