Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Zzzzzzz
Back to Tokyo...or...huh...Osaka
We finally left Jeju just after 1 am China time (original arrival time in Shanghai was 8:30 PM), hoping that the fog would lift by the time we got there. The backup plan was extra fuel for a airport to be determined later. Well, the fog did not lift...they needed 350 meters of visibility, the highest reading in the flight from Jeju was 300m. Northwest convinced the Tokyo airport to let us come back despite the airport flight curfew and so now we are on the way back to where we started 8 hours ago. The current plan is to get a new staff on board the plane, load some more food and fuel and return to Shanghai. My best estimate is that will get us to Shanghai no earlier than 9 am China time, over 12 hours after the original arrival time. All of it waiting on the plane...the kids are doing amazing, getting many compliments from crew and passengers...just waiting for them to hit the wall...
The best part is that when we land we have a full day of getting our new house ready to be lived in...we forgot to bottle some energy before we left!
That last section was written on the plane...now I am sitting in the Osaka airport. NWA made a last minute decision to switch up and so we landed in Osaka at 5 am local time and sat on the plane for two hours before waiting in various lines for another 3 hours. Now we have tickets on Nippon Air leaving late this afternoon and arriving in Shanghai at 6 PM...whew...all for now...gotta feed the hungry hoard...
Finally..not...stuck in Jeju...
The captain came on and announced that all electronic devices were to be turned off as we were twenty minutes outside of Shanghai. Ten minutes later another announcement..."Unfortunately an unexpected weather event as occurred in Shanghai and we are heading to an airport in Korea."...later it was relayed that the event was a heavy fog that descended upon the Pudong airport just before we arrived. We were not one of the lucky planes that was routed to the other Shanghai airport. Instead we are sitting on the tarmac at Jeju airport (small island off the coast of South Korea, about the same as being routed from Detroit to Chicago). Likely we will spend the night here...what fun!! The kids are still holding out okay despite more than 24 hours without sleep. Amanda just played several rounds of crazy eights with one of the stewards; winning most of the time. Not sure when we will finally get there...
Monday, January 7, 2008
Finally...
As I am writing this we are cruising 34,000 ft. above Alaska 6 hours into our 13 hour flight to Tokyo. Amanda and Kim are asleep next to me, Tanner is playing the PSP and Justin is on his 3rd movie. It is strangely quiet as Casting Crowns pipes through my IPOD while I type. Strange due to the past weeks of craziness getting ready for this flight and all it means for our family. Kim and I finally exhaled as we took our seats at 11:45 this morning. I looked at Kim and said, "We finally made it." She said, "Yeah, but not very gracefully". So true, but we did finally make it.
We left our house on Saturday afternoon for the last time. It was an unfamiliar feeling leaving our home, a foot of snow on the ground, the kids said their last goodbyes. We spent our last night at a hotel next to the airport. Our last dinner was at the Old Country Buffet as the Pizzeria Uno we tried to go to had recently closed. Our attempt to watch one last American movie (Enchanted) failed, we resorted to Nancy Drew through the hotel PPV. The kids still got their popcorn!
The kids were very excited getting on the plane, hopefully the energy will continue as the flight/day wears on. These flights are weird since it is daylight the whole way, but they keep the cabin dark until we get served breakfast closer to Tokyo. I don't plan on sleeping, hoping to adjust quickly to the 13 hour time change. It has worked the past couple of times. A couple of notes to future travelers...don't pack the Wii and the fancy camera in the same carry-on bag without unpacking it all for the TSA...international flights can do curbside check-in (would have been helpful with 12 bags to check!!)...don't leave a bunch of small liquid containers forgotten in the pouches of your purse...get to the airport early...sometimes you really do need the extra time...
All for now...signing off from 34,000 ft...
