A brief recap of the trip. All started with Japanese efficiency. The airport shuttle taxi was scheduled for 12:20. At 12:10 the driver rang the buzzer. I rushed downstairs with most of the bags and the girls and got them loaded up. At 12:17 Jana had not yet appeared and the driver had begun looking at his watch and sucking air in between his teeth. (The other passenger, meanwhile, was sound asleep!) Jana came rushing downstairs at 12:21 and we pulled away at 12:23, which is Japanese for "3 minutes late."
A calm drive to the airport followed, and we checked in with plenty of time to get some food at the wonderful food court. (Next trip, I will leave even more time at Kansai airport to sample more of the offerings!) We boarded for Korea and pushed back right on time, the flight was fine, and we landed right on time. The only hitches were that our seats were not all four together, and after picking out some wonderful sake at duty free they told us that we would not be able to take it through security re-screening in Seoul. Bummer! (So we had to settle for Korean duty-free sake, which is not the same thing.)
ANYHOO - smooth connection at Incheon, which is truly a wonderful airport. This time the kids were invited by the airport staff - yes, they approached US - invited to use the indoor playground! They played for a few minutes but they preferred the "treadmills" (moving sidewalks.)
Our flight was called, the ground staffed all bowed as they began boarding the plane, and amazingly they got everyone seated on the full size 747 in about 25 minutes and pushed back right on time.
So it is a 13.5 hour flight. Perfect for: movie, meal, movie, read a bit, sleep about 5 hours, movie, eat, movie, get ready to land, land. That was the idea anyway. Jana and Aleeza mostly kept that schedule, I substituted another movie for sleeping.
We flew into the airspace over New York City right on time. Then things started going wrong. We circled for about half an hour. As we did, they kept bringing the plane down lower and lower, so the air was bumpier and bumpier. It was a roller coaster with turns and bumps and speeding up and slowing down. Poor Jana had her head between her legs much of this time. Eventually we came down for a rough but successful landing. The airplane taxied and came to a stop some distance from the terminal. An announcement was made that there was congestion on the ground and we would have to hold for a few minutes. That situation continued for about another half an hour. So, our on-time arrival was now almost an hour late!
Eventually we docked and everyone stood up and got their bags, and then we stood in the aisle for another fifteen minutes before we could move. We could see through the windows that it was pouring rain, really a heavy downpour. As we exited, we saw that they had been unable to seal the jetway to the aircraft, so there was basically a waterfall that you had to walk through to get off the plane. The flight attendants were standing there with umbrellas and a plastic sheet, but it was not really working and meanwhile they were all getting soaked. We scrambled out without much damage, but it was quite a scene.
Walking through the corridor to immigration, we could see that the rain was causing major problems all over. Water was shooting up from drains at ground level. Baggage handlers were huddled and trying to cope with this. Indoors, there were puddles everywhere and the staff were placing buckets all around, but it was totally inadequate and there were slippery areas all around.
Meanwhile, the airport porters were sitting around napping and looking at their watches. The Port Authority Police were standing around eating donuts (seriously!) and talking. While waiting for our bags, I tried to find a restroom, and was told that they were all closed due to flooding. ALL OF THE BATHROOMS! Welcome to New York!
Eventually our damp and bruised bags came down the chute, and we headed for the doors. The main doors from the customs area were blocked off for unknown reasons, and we were all funneled into a narrow corridor, through doors held open with security tape. The police were present in large numbers, sitting around talking. Nobody helped as several people with big bags struggled to get through the narrow corridor. Eventually we emerged into the din of the main building - this was it, we had arrived to zero signage or other indication that we were no longer in the customs area. Weird.
My brother was there to meet us, and after running to a functional bathroom we dragged ourselves to the car and loaded up.
We exited the parking lot and drove directly to - another parking lot, but this time it was a roadway.
The storm had apparently flooded most of the roadways in the area, and traffic was at a complete standstill. We could see all around that people were out of their cars and walking around. Some folks had taken out a soccer ball and were kicking it around in a soggy grassy area. People were climbing out of their taxis and walking back to the airport along the roadway. It was surreal. All this was happening at 11pm on Sunday night.
We finally started moving around midnight, and by 12:40 we had open road in front of us. Finally got to my brother's at 2am and hit the sack.
Next day, picked up dog and drove home.
That brings us to now!
Thanks for reading the blog of our trip to Japan.
I hope to see many of you soon, my friends and family!
Much love - Aaron and the gang.
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