Flights were not looking good for when I had planned to fly. Well, I could have gotten home, but I wanted to come home in the big seats. I kept checking future dates, and for some freak reason I clicked the next day and it was wide open. Twenty-one first class seats were still available from Narita to Denver and I would be #8 on standby. It was fairly promising. (However, when flying standby, NOTHING is promising.)
I shared with the pastor about the flights and then the next days flight was open and he said he'd go for it. So at 4pm, I decided to leave the island at 8:30pm and say goodbye to paradise.
However, I still had to get off Saipan and back to Guam...and I had a supper planned with the college girls. The flight that night was booked according to the website. There was no purchasing tickets. But I could tell on my login there were some seats left, so the flight was probably weight-listed. I decided to try. If I got out, I should have a nice seat home. If I didn't get out, I had four more days in Saipan. Win-win situation! (Once at the airport, it is when I realized, I didn't have Perry with me. I actually was sick for a moment.)
By the next morning, I was on my long journey home. The flight from Guam to Narita was good. I sat next to one of the heads of ESL for Guam Public School System. We talked education for a lot of the flight. After my arrival in Japan (and going through 2nd airport security), I had seven hours to kill at the airport. Thankfully, I had a Club pass, so I bummed Japanese food and drinks...was able to get a nice shower...tried to sleep in the floor...and ate some more. I also did a little shopping remembering some chocolate my dad liked that a (are you ready for this) Filipino friend from Japan had given me in Costa Rica. :)
As I hoped, I got to fly in the big seats. Even better, I was on the 787 "Dreamliner" where the "big seats" make into beds! And even better...the big seat next to me was empty! I wish everyone could experience that luxury once in their lives. The flight attendants are actually nice. The food is actually really good. So amazing. After the food which I will take you through...
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| None of those packaged nuts in the big seats. |
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| This was the best garlic bread I have ever said. I can't believe I'm saying that either. |
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| The third round...Asian appetizers. |
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| My steak with mushroom sauce. I skipped the next course which was cheese, crackers, and grapes. |
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| Dessert: ice cream sundae. They had a cart with toppings I could choose from! |
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| And a pic of the "big seats." |
As I said, after the food....
I stretched out to sleep. HA! It doesn't matter what my circumstance (good or bad), sleep never cometh on a plane. But at least I was comfortable. After landing in Denver (and going through 3rd airport security), the real fun began.
There was no way I was making the first flight to Tulsa. (This is one of the prices paid instead of the high prices in tickets...the not making the flight "prices".) But I was fairly confident in getting home that day because the last two flights were empty. However, by the grace of God, I was issued a boarding pass! Of course, last year I was issued a boarding pass and they pulled me off the plane.
We took off and after about five minutes I noticed we weren't ascending like I thought we should. I also noticed the plane wasn't as cool as it should be. About 15 minutes into the flight, the pilot says they had a something-something-something which translated to be they couldn't pressurize the cabin meaning they had to stay under 10,000 feet and they couldn't cool the cabin, so we would be going back. (I knew I was going to be pulled off the plane!)
After arrive BACK in Denver, we waited about an hour. The pilot came out to tell us that they fixed the plane, BUT that the airport was just closed due to lightening. He ended with, "And by the way, Tulsa Air Traffic Control tower has been evacuated due to fire so we probably couldn't have landed anyway." Immediately after he stopped talking, everyone's cell phones started going crazy. Tornado. Great, there was a tornado in the area, but we were actually sitting across from the tornado shelter, so I wasn't too worried. I was still convinced, they were pulling me off the flight.
Well, we did eventually get back on that plane. They even let me keep my board pass. And we were able to land in Tulsa (because Kansas City took over the ATC Tower). And my 30+ hour journey was over!
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