Home Again!

I was scheduled to fly back on Tuesday, August 31st but my flight was cancelled due to Typhoon Kompasu. My flights were rescheduled for September 1st and due to the typhoon leaving thousands of passengers stranded, the airports were overcrowded.

Heather & Grace took me to the airport in Naha. We stood in line for what seemed to be a long time, but it was actually less than a hour. And - we thought the crowd at the airport was pretty thick. I even took a few pictures to document how crowded the airport was - but really - this crowd is NOTHING compared to what I saw in Tokyo!

Crowd at the Airport in Naha - Okinawa, Japan!
Wider view!

In Tokyo, I was one of thousands of people in a check in line that took about 3.5 hours to work your way through. The line was so thick that I could not get my hand into my purse to retrieve my camera, so I don't have pictures. It was also so thick that I was happy that I hadn't had time to get lunch and that I hadn't been served a soda on the plane from Naha because once you got into the line you were forced to go with the flow until you reached the check in counter. So, taking a bathroom break would have been impossible. This became obvious to me the first time I noticed that someone had left a puddle in the floor.

By the time I reached the check in counter, the plane I was supposed to fly out on had finished boarding and was preparing to take off, so I had to get into another line for "special assistance" and change my flight plans. I was able to get another flight to LA on Singapore Airlines - which offers great service and entertainment plus more comfortable seating than the United flight I was scheduled to be on, so everything worked out. I got to LA with a little time to spare and stopped at McDonald's. Then I was off to Denver where I had to race to my next flight to Oklahoma City - and I made it just in time.

I wonder if squeezing through the crowds and surviving will in any way be of assistance to me when it comes to shopping at Wal-Mart on the 1st of the month or during the Christmas season? I normally avoid Wal-Mart during those times because I don't like fighting the crowd - however, I may not consider it a crowd now that I know what a crowd really is!

Anyway, I'm home..... and the stormy weather seems to have followed me! I took this last night just as the storm was moving in. I actually took several shots - but chose to post this one so Grace could see her doggie in the foreground.

Grace would really like me to stay and play with her forever and was quite upset when we were loading up to go to the airport on Tuesday. She even cheered when my flight was cancelled. But, we talked about how I needed to get back and give her doggie a bath and feed her goldfish and she seemed to understand that I needed to go. Due to the stormy weather (and mud puddles) I haven't gotten around to giving Abby her bath, just yet - but I did make it to Wal-Mart to get her a box of gold fish and I have been feeding them to her for Grace. So, this video is for Grace!



See, Gracie! Abby is really happy to have me home. She's also looking forward to YOU being here to see her soon, and so am I! I'll have a box of Gold Fish ready.