take a good look.
soak in its beautiful simplicity.
(yeah so i'm quite proud of myself)
this is everything i'm carrying on my shoulders for the next 3 months while i wander around japan, helping out at farms and such here and there through wwoof.
what's wwoof?
just click here, they can explain it better than i can.
so after my glorious packing job, i thought it would be smooth sailing from here out. i was dead wrong.
challenges and setbacks are a part of travelling. you gotta just roll with it or it'll drive you crazy. the real bummer is when those setbacks start from day one and don't let up (not even a little) on day two.
so here was my itinerary:
alaska airlines:
san diego - portland
portland - vancouver
air canada:
vancouver - tokyo
it all started with a delayed flight out of portland. when i get to vancouver for my connection to tokyo, ive got about 20 minutes to get through customs, find my bag, recheck it, and then get RUN to my plane.
my sandals are just gonna slow me down so i rip em off and run barefoot, as fast as i possibly can. flying around corners, jetting up stairs, barely missing a few collisions with slow moving passengers. i show up at the air canada ticket counter, out of breath, head throbbing (running and me don't mix well), only to find that i missed my flight.
so now i gotta lug my junk alllllll the way down to the alaska airlines desk.
then the complete asshole at alaska acts like its MY fault. i tried first to be the calm, but still irate customer, but this guy just pissed me off so now i'm yelling at him.
after i explain everything to him, asshole says to me, "sir, this is not my problem, go talk to air canada, its their flight you missed."
ryan:
"what? not your problem?! not your fault maybe, but it sure as hell is your problem. the airline YOU work for got me here late, and i missed my connecting flight, so now what?"
asshole:
"i don't know what you want me to do. you had plenty of time to get to your plane. maybe you were just too slow..."
ryan:
"so you're really not gonna help me? this is how you're gonna be? can you atleast call air canada? see if they need anything from you?"
asshole:
"no. we cannot call air canada. this is not our problem. you have to go back and talk to them."
ryan:
"%^#$WtfiyuhT*^&56d4srCTVbgu876f&%!!!!!"
thank god for michelle, the next rep i talked to, who without question booked me a hotel room, food, got me on the flight the next day, and took care of my bags.
BUT WAIT. the next day...i get on my plane. i'm stoked, rested, well fed, and so ready to get to tokyo. but of course, that's just not gonna happen.
40 minutes into the flight, the pilot comes on the radio.
"we're having a computer system malfunction and need to land the plane, so we're heading back to vancouver."
perfect.
as the plane is approaching the runway, he comes on again.
"everyone, please take a second to locate your nearest emergency exit."
is this it? am i really gonna finally get to use one of those slides and feel like i'm fighting for my life?! AWESOME.
no such luck. it was a very rough, but safe landing. good job mr. pilot sir.
the flight is cancelled, and i am once again sitting in a hotelroom in vancouver, when i should be in tokyo.
oh well. really nothing i can do except take this opportunity to relax. there's a japanese supermarket right across the street, so i can still feel like i'm KINDA there, even though i'm still thousands of miles away.
maybe tomorrow will turn out a little better?
7 comments:
great blog. you were way too nice to that guy at the counter, though. wouldn't it have been way cooler if you'd raised such a stink that airport security had to arrest you?
Well, I suppose you have a purpose in Vancouver. Seve it well my friend and have a nice, safe flight to Tokyo when you're done.
I disagree with Anna. This was not a great blog. I think you're made of better stuff than this post represents. Enjoy the journey. Lighten up.
Canada, it's a make-believe state. Canada, Oh Canada - it's great! The people are nice, and speak French, too. If you don't like it man, you sniff glue.
They say "eh?" instead of "what?" or "duh?" That's the mighty power of Canada.
I want to be where lemmings run into the sea - where the marmosets can attack me...
I love that mom says enjoy the journey even though you were told to locate the nearest emergency exit. That would have had mom driving herself back down to san diego at that point.
Mom just doesn't like that you said asshole 80,000 times. I'm surprised Dad didn't come in here and check to make sure you're still a Christian. That's what he did with me once when I said ass and hell. I didn't even say ass hole. So yeah... you must be a heathen.
I liked this blog. I am glad you had to deal with that instead of me though. I would just be a sobbing mess, no lie. Once I lost my connecting train ticket and they were simply not going to let me continue on. I was going to have to repurchase my ticket. I just started crying and that worked, but boy, was it embarrassing.
Well, since Ryan and I had JUST had this whole discussion about how dying in a plane crash is how he'd want to leave this life, I'd say the idea of enjoying the journey is a little different for all of us.
did you notice how i wrote AWESOME!!! after the thought of dying? i'd say i was quite enjoying the journey.
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