Jet lag? What jet laaaaaaazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........
I promise, I will never scoff at folks complaining about jet lag again. As I am typing, it is now quarter to one in the morning and I'm wide-stinking-awake. Go figure.
So, to recap yesterday. I got practically zero sleep the night before because now I have this weird thing that if I have an alarm set for myself, I won't sleep right. I haven't figured it out yet, maybe its something deep in the memory banks that hates alarms and knows that it is my deepest desire to take a sledge hammer to any alarm clock that is meant to wake me from my peaceful slumber. I don't know. The funky thing is, if the alarm is set for someone else, I could care less and will sleep like a baby. Hmm, I can't figure this one out.
Anyway, so no sleep from the night before equals mass quantities of deeply strong coffee to stay coherent enough to make it onto the planes to bring me home, so we stop at Starbucks on the way to the airport in Okinawa. Their idea of venti is roughly the size of a grande, only slightly bigger. Still, its really not enough to get me going. Once we finally get to the Naha Airport, it takes a pry bar to get me away from Beth and the girls so that I can get in and catch my flight. I have to pat myself on the back, though, no tears were shed on my end, I can't vouch for the other end. Once I finally find the Japan Airlines counter, I realize that I forgot to get the flight number for Tokyo to home and try as I might, I just can't get the counter agent to understand that she needs to look it up on her computer. I used to do her job with Delta Airlines back in the late 80's early 90's so I know that it can be done, but there's that omni-present language barrier that won't let us get past "what's your connecting flight number". Once we agree that I need to pick up my checked bag in Narita and recheck it on United, I'm on my way. Since I have some extra time to kill, I check out the shops on the way to the gate area. Nothing new there that I want to waste more yen than its worth on, so to the gate I go. The cool thing about Japanese security is that you don't have to take off your shoes before going through the magnetometer....except yesterday. Because I was wearing boots, I had to take them off, put on some really ugly slippers and wait until they determined that the shoes I had on, that didn't set off the alarms, by the way, had nothing in them except my feet previously. So back on they go and I'm on my way to Tokyo.
The plane ride to Tokyo was pretty boring. There's something about the route from Okinawa to Tokyo and vise-verse that people just conk out. I'm assuming that since that is the case that this is why there isn't even so much as beverage service on the flight. Trying to get a cup of water is pretty difficult, but I got one and promptly conked out. Must be the water, so don't drink it if you don't want to sleep on that route.
Upon arriving in Tokyo, I grab my bag and work on getting my happy self to the ticket counter/check in area. This place is massive. Coming in from the States it wasn't that big, it grew in the last two weeks....actually, it didn't grow, I was just in a different terminal than the one I left out of to go to Okinawa. Anyway, normally, flying standby, I can pretty much hit any counter to check in, including the premier counter. Since this one was dead as a doorknob, I started that way, but was stopped halfway there by the one and only person who was behind the counter in the first place. Explaining that I was wait-listed for the flight, she sniffed and in almost perfect snobbish...I mean, English, told me to check in at the economy counter, which was uber busy. What the heck? I'm there, she's filing her nails and she won't check me in?? O.....K......so I schlep my stuff over to the economy counter and wait for almost a half an hour for a kiosk to check in. The not so funny thing is, the agent did the exact same thing to a family who wasn't flying standby....same attitude, same inflection to the voice. Meh, must be the rules there.
So, while I'm waiting in line, I'm getting my passport out and realize that I'm missing paperwork. Nothing earth shattering that will cause me to be detained, just my immunization paperwork. I remembered that it looked a little weird when I handed it to the agent in Okinawa, but since I had more time this time (two and a half hours between flights) and was checking out the cool visa stamp in it, it dawned on me that it was gone. Once I got through checking my bag, I set out in search of a phone to let Beth know to be on the lookout for them. I finally find a phone, but I can't figure it out. I really need to learn to read Japanese...between buttons that shouldn't be pushed and some secret way to dial Okinawa, I was pretty frustrated at that point. The Red Carpet Room was right across the hall from the pay phones, so I went in there to see if I could, a) use their data connection to get in touch with Beth, or b) use their phone to call her directly. Neither one was acceptable and I was shown the door because I wasn't a member. Nevermind that I'm a spouse/child/sister of employees for United. Grr! So, out I go to the phones once more to try to figure it out. I did figure out that the yen that I was putting in there was not making the cut, so I bought a phone card that at this point I can't figure out, either. Totally frustrated, I'm about to try for the millionth time when I hear the final boarding call for my flight. What happened to the first boarding call?? So, I take off.
The one thing that I have to remember about me is this: if there's a crack; if there's an unevenness; if there are tracks that keep you from falling, you can lay odds that my happy self will be finding them. Yup, you guessed it....cheeks up right on the moving sidewalk and right in front of the entire population of Tokyo. After collecting my carryon and what's left of any shred of dignity I have left, I take off again for the gate and get there with less than five minutes to spare. Praise God they were looking for me since I had checked in at the counter already, as they had my boarding pass ready. Whew! Finally, I'm on my way home.
Once on, I remove my boot to assess the damage to my ankle. Roughly tangelo size, hopefully it will go down during the flight. Of course not, it went to baseball size by the end of the flight and putting my boot back on over that thing was pretty difficult. Anyway, after they feed us enough food to feed a small country, I zonk out for all of three hours. Three hours out of eleven! Surely I can sleep some more, but no such luck, I'm wide awake. So I watch two episodes of Storage Wars and two of Auction something-or-another, read, play Angry Birds, anything to try to go back to sleep. Nope, as wide awake as I am now. Makes for a frustrating eight hour plane ride at that point.
Finally, I'm home in Houston. I turn on my poor neglected cell phone that has had zero service since I left and it "boings" and "sneezes" in response to the many texts that I had gotten while I was gone. I mute that as I'm trying to find my way to Customs and Inspections. Right as I'm approaching the line for customs, that stupid ankle gives out and, yup, you guessed it! Cheeks up in front of the entire city of Houston. That has to be a record....on my butt in two countries in less than 24 hours. Thankfully the agents felt sorry for me and I was able to go through the express line, probably because they figured that I might plop on my butt again and they didn't want to laugh out loud, they have to be serious, you know. Through customs and waiting for Chris and then home. Catching up with emails and such then dinner, which I almost fell asleep in and bed. Now, I'm awake. At one thirty in the morning, with sleep no where in the equation. **sigh** Everyone else except Snickers is asleep. Heck, the bats and raccoons outside are probably asleep! Wide awake, that's me. Jet lag has set in.
Hmph! This sucks. Oh, well, maybe I'll take advantage of the quiet time and do a bit of cleaning. There's really not much to do, just the daily cleaning one does when one has eight furballs. So, I'll get that done so that I don't have to do it later and maybe have a nap between now and the time I spend some time with one of my besties here. **yawn**
Have a great day, everyone!
P.S. Y'all should have seen the number of spelling errors on this before I fixed them! Oinkinawa?? Lol! Yeah, I'm pooped and jet lag has set in!
So, to recap yesterday. I got practically zero sleep the night before because now I have this weird thing that if I have an alarm set for myself, I won't sleep right. I haven't figured it out yet, maybe its something deep in the memory banks that hates alarms and knows that it is my deepest desire to take a sledge hammer to any alarm clock that is meant to wake me from my peaceful slumber. I don't know. The funky thing is, if the alarm is set for someone else, I could care less and will sleep like a baby. Hmm, I can't figure this one out.
Anyway, so no sleep from the night before equals mass quantities of deeply strong coffee to stay coherent enough to make it onto the planes to bring me home, so we stop at Starbucks on the way to the airport in Okinawa. Their idea of venti is roughly the size of a grande, only slightly bigger. Still, its really not enough to get me going. Once we finally get to the Naha Airport, it takes a pry bar to get me away from Beth and the girls so that I can get in and catch my flight. I have to pat myself on the back, though, no tears were shed on my end, I can't vouch for the other end. Once I finally find the Japan Airlines counter, I realize that I forgot to get the flight number for Tokyo to home and try as I might, I just can't get the counter agent to understand that she needs to look it up on her computer. I used to do her job with Delta Airlines back in the late 80's early 90's so I know that it can be done, but there's that omni-present language barrier that won't let us get past "what's your connecting flight number". Once we agree that I need to pick up my checked bag in Narita and recheck it on United, I'm on my way. Since I have some extra time to kill, I check out the shops on the way to the gate area. Nothing new there that I want to waste more yen than its worth on, so to the gate I go. The cool thing about Japanese security is that you don't have to take off your shoes before going through the magnetometer....except yesterday. Because I was wearing boots, I had to take them off, put on some really ugly slippers and wait until they determined that the shoes I had on, that didn't set off the alarms, by the way, had nothing in them except my feet previously. So back on they go and I'm on my way to Tokyo.
The plane ride to Tokyo was pretty boring. There's something about the route from Okinawa to Tokyo and vise-verse that people just conk out. I'm assuming that since that is the case that this is why there isn't even so much as beverage service on the flight. Trying to get a cup of water is pretty difficult, but I got one and promptly conked out. Must be the water, so don't drink it if you don't want to sleep on that route.
Upon arriving in Tokyo, I grab my bag and work on getting my happy self to the ticket counter/check in area. This place is massive. Coming in from the States it wasn't that big, it grew in the last two weeks....actually, it didn't grow, I was just in a different terminal than the one I left out of to go to Okinawa. Anyway, normally, flying standby, I can pretty much hit any counter to check in, including the premier counter. Since this one was dead as a doorknob, I started that way, but was stopped halfway there by the one and only person who was behind the counter in the first place. Explaining that I was wait-listed for the flight, she sniffed and in almost perfect snobbish...I mean, English, told me to check in at the economy counter, which was uber busy. What the heck? I'm there, she's filing her nails and she won't check me in?? O.....K......so I schlep my stuff over to the economy counter and wait for almost a half an hour for a kiosk to check in. The not so funny thing is, the agent did the exact same thing to a family who wasn't flying standby....same attitude, same inflection to the voice. Meh, must be the rules there.
So, while I'm waiting in line, I'm getting my passport out and realize that I'm missing paperwork. Nothing earth shattering that will cause me to be detained, just my immunization paperwork. I remembered that it looked a little weird when I handed it to the agent in Okinawa, but since I had more time this time (two and a half hours between flights) and was checking out the cool visa stamp in it, it dawned on me that it was gone. Once I got through checking my bag, I set out in search of a phone to let Beth know to be on the lookout for them. I finally find a phone, but I can't figure it out. I really need to learn to read Japanese...between buttons that shouldn't be pushed and some secret way to dial Okinawa, I was pretty frustrated at that point. The Red Carpet Room was right across the hall from the pay phones, so I went in there to see if I could, a) use their data connection to get in touch with Beth, or b) use their phone to call her directly. Neither one was acceptable and I was shown the door because I wasn't a member. Nevermind that I'm a spouse/child/sister of employees for United. Grr! So, out I go to the phones once more to try to figure it out. I did figure out that the yen that I was putting in there was not making the cut, so I bought a phone card that at this point I can't figure out, either. Totally frustrated, I'm about to try for the millionth time when I hear the final boarding call for my flight. What happened to the first boarding call?? So, I take off.
The one thing that I have to remember about me is this: if there's a crack; if there's an unevenness; if there are tracks that keep you from falling, you can lay odds that my happy self will be finding them. Yup, you guessed it....cheeks up right on the moving sidewalk and right in front of the entire population of Tokyo. After collecting my carryon and what's left of any shred of dignity I have left, I take off again for the gate and get there with less than five minutes to spare. Praise God they were looking for me since I had checked in at the counter already, as they had my boarding pass ready. Whew! Finally, I'm on my way home.
Once on, I remove my boot to assess the damage to my ankle. Roughly tangelo size, hopefully it will go down during the flight. Of course not, it went to baseball size by the end of the flight and putting my boot back on over that thing was pretty difficult. Anyway, after they feed us enough food to feed a small country, I zonk out for all of three hours. Three hours out of eleven! Surely I can sleep some more, but no such luck, I'm wide awake. So I watch two episodes of Storage Wars and two of Auction something-or-another, read, play Angry Birds, anything to try to go back to sleep. Nope, as wide awake as I am now. Makes for a frustrating eight hour plane ride at that point.
Finally, I'm home in Houston. I turn on my poor neglected cell phone that has had zero service since I left and it "boings" and "sneezes" in response to the many texts that I had gotten while I was gone. I mute that as I'm trying to find my way to Customs and Inspections. Right as I'm approaching the line for customs, that stupid ankle gives out and, yup, you guessed it! Cheeks up in front of the entire city of Houston. That has to be a record....on my butt in two countries in less than 24 hours. Thankfully the agents felt sorry for me and I was able to go through the express line, probably because they figured that I might plop on my butt again and they didn't want to laugh out loud, they have to be serious, you know. Through customs and waiting for Chris and then home. Catching up with emails and such then dinner, which I almost fell asleep in and bed. Now, I'm awake. At one thirty in the morning, with sleep no where in the equation. **sigh** Everyone else except Snickers is asleep. Heck, the bats and raccoons outside are probably asleep! Wide awake, that's me. Jet lag has set in.
Hmph! This sucks. Oh, well, maybe I'll take advantage of the quiet time and do a bit of cleaning. There's really not much to do, just the daily cleaning one does when one has eight furballs. So, I'll get that done so that I don't have to do it later and maybe have a nap between now and the time I spend some time with one of my besties here. **yawn**
Have a great day, everyone!
P.S. Y'all should have seen the number of spelling errors on this before I fixed them! Oinkinawa?? Lol! Yeah, I'm pooped and jet lag has set in!
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