This is the day I've been planning for. My friend Anna picked me up at 4:00 AM. I said goodbye to Buster and got to the airport in plenty of time to weigh in my bags (my heavy bag only weighted 49 lbs. - YAY), and get through customs for a 6:00 flight. While I was waiting, the flight attendant came on the PA system and said our flight would be delayed 1 hour and they would try to re-book everyone that had connecting flights! This was completely unacceptable because I am flying to Dallas, then LA, then Tokyo, then Ho Chi Minh City with only a small amount of time between each flight. As my blood pressure was rising, she came back on and said "Never mind. We're going to take off as planned after-all!"
My flight to Dallas was short and sweet. I proceeded to take the sky train from terminal B to terminal D. However, it by-passed terminal D and a recording came on saying because of security reasons it was not stopping at D.I got off at terminal C and asked a man who worked there how to get to terminal D. He said the sky train. I told him it wasn't stopping at D right now and he said to just stay on and eventually it would be back to normal! NOOOO. I asked him if I could walk to the sky bridge which connected to D and he told me which way to walk. Well, it was really far and my window of time between flights was narrowed down considerably, but I made it.
The flight to LA was fine. I read, and slept most of the way. This is where it becomes complicated. I was switching from American Airlines to United Airlines in LA. I had to go from the American terminal to the International United terminal and the signs gave me no help at all. I asked a security officer and he said I had to exit the building (which also means exiting security) and walk down from terminal 3 to terminal 7. That took me a really long time. And that also meant I had to go through security again and the lines in LA are quite a bit longer than the lines in Lubbock! By the time I got to my gate, they were already boarding.
The flight to Tokoy (Narita, Japan) was 11 hours and 53 minutes but was very comfortable. I read, saw a couple of movies and slept some more.
In Narita we had to go through security again and I only had 50 minutes to get to my next gate. United Airlines uses All Nippon Airlines in Japan and that flight was very crowded with people traveling to Vietnam for Tet. This flight was 6 hours and 40 minutes. A man helped me place my carry-on bag overhead and I forgot to take out my book, so I could only watch TV but with a nice snack in between.
Ho Chi Minh City airport is very crowded at the baggage claim area. Everyone claimed their bags but me. One came out, but the other 3 didn't. I was on my way to the claim area already worried that they wouldn't understand me when I glanced way down the hallway and there they were just sitting there! This whole procedure took 1 hour! Ron and his student friend Carie and Carie's mother were waiting for me outside. As soon as I exited the building I saw hundreds of people waiting for 3 flights that arrived at the same time! But standing up on the wall was Ron waiving his arms and I knew I was safe.
We took a cab to our new apartment which I will live in for 4 months. It's very nice and very clean. It has 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room/dining room combined. It was dark outside (11:00 PM) but I could see a very large swimming pool and tennis court. I unpacked my suitcases and went to bed with a buzz in my head not knowing what time or day it was! I'm home.
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