July 3

The Odyssey From So Florida To Vietnam

So, it was a long day, but both of us agreed it was not nearly as bad as it probably sounds - 28 hours from door to door.  The "adventure" began on Friday when I got an email from Expedia about our itinerary.  It showed the same flights we've had all along, starting with a 9 am departure from Fort Lauderdale for Chicago.  And there was a link provided to "click here to check in tomorrow."  I wasn't sure if the check-in would be through American Airlines or Japan Airlines as they were partnering on our flight.  So I called AND talked to an Expedia rep about my itinerary.  So let me be clear - I was sent an email and talked voice-to-voice to a representative about our 9 am departure.  So Saturday morning I went to check-in and I was having "issues" with the Japan Airlines site getting the boarding passes so I called Expedia and they connected me to the JAL rep.  She said, "Are you inquiring about your 7 am flight?"  No, I said, we leave at 9 am.  No......it WAS seven am.  And after three hours on the phone I got two different people to merely say, "we're sorry our system didn't update online."  Because you see, as I was talking to the JAL, American Airline, and Expedia people on Saturday I was looking online at our reservations with a 9 am departure STILL LISTED.  But they gave me a new booking number and now I had TWO flights, one at nine and one at seven, so I called American Airlines back for a third time and discovered that they'd sent the new flight out to Expedia in March and that there was no flight at 9 am.  It's a good thing we didn't just show up at the airport thinking there was no point to getting a boarding pass ahead of time because we'd have to check our passports, visas, and luggage.  Crisis averted!

So we were up e-a-r-l-y on Sunday and called an Uber ride.  This was the second Uber I'd called in Fort Lauderdale for a ride to the airport and the second time I had to give directions to the airport - and yes they had a GPS but couldn't follow it......to the airport.  And before we got on the Interstate our driver said, "Do you mind if I stop for gas?"  I must have had "a look" because he immediately said, "No it's ok, I will probably make it!"  Nothing like starting out on the bit of a stressful side!

But we got to the airport without incident and checked in and were ready to fly.  We departed on time at 7 am and landed in Chicago about 9:15 am (CST).  We had Economy seats for this leg and we had them for the last leg today.  But I'd requested "Premium Economy" for the nearly 13-hour flight from Chicago to Tokyo.  We'd looked at the photos of seats online and they looked comfortable but nothing could have prepared us for the miniature apartment that awaited us in "Premium Economy!"  

The bottom third of the photo, if you look closely, you see the blanket, pillow, and SLIPPERS....and you'll note that my feet are flat on the floor and not even close to being underneath the seat in front of us.  Note that the footrest comes out; the chair reclines, and there is a nice spacer between us.  We rode in style across the Pacific!  

We landed in Tokyo a little early and had a little over two hours between flights - which was nice because there was no stress about catching flights and had a chance to walk around and stretch our legs.  The terminal here in Tokyo was amazing.  It was like walking around a high-end mall with a few airline gates thrown in.  Note the "Tiffany's" on the right.....MANY high end stores like this throughout!  

We boarded our final flight and were back to Economy for the last six-hour leg of the trip.  The sun was setting as we left Japan and I took the snapshot below.  By the time we'd reached Vietnam and descended down where we could see the ground it was completely dark - second photo was our first glimpse of Vietnam.  

I took the screen shot of the "world clocks" to document the travel today.  Because we crossed the International Date Line we lost the day as it was nearly 10 pm on July 3rd while it was only 11 am July 3rd in So Fla.  So for our bodies.....left 7 am on July 2 and arrived at 11 am July 3!We de-planed as quicker than any American plane despite the fact it was a huge jet and were immediately sent through customs - without our luggage, which we thought was odd as all our other international we've picked up luggage and THEN go through customs.  Kim's luggage came within minutes and then.........those of you who followed our recent Columbia River cruise now where I'm going.  I was very anxious about my bag arriving because it did NOT on the last trip.  Waited, waited, waited......Kim said, "I'm beginning to get a little nervous."  And I said, at least there are still about 20 people here, and finally here was my bag!  WHEW!  Customs was a breeze and then the last "snag" of the day.  No representative of Avalon.  Hmmmm.  We walked around and found no one.  Considered walking outside the terminal but there were literally hundreds of people lining the walkway with signs.  CERTAINLY they'd not be there, right?  I asked at information and was told they normally are INSIDE.  No representative in sight.  But I found a guy who was in uniform of our hotel and I asked.  He said, he'd show us to our welcoming guy.....there he was amidst the crowd with an small sign - we'd never have seen him.  But we found him and got our ride to the hotel and checked in without incident.  Check in went very smoothly and we have a gorgeous room on the 13th floor.  In our information packed (our guide had long since gone to bed) we were alerted that breakfast begins at 6 am and our first meeting is at 8 am; departure from the hotel is at 8:30 am for a tour of the city followed by a Vietnamese cooking class for lunch!  Back to the hotel to catch our breath and then the entire tour group is being taken out to dinner at 7 pm.  A full day tomorrow.

If you've not traveled 28 hours straight, here's what we looked like after we'd checked into our room :)