Last I posted, the movers had come and packed all our belongings. I boarded a plane a few days after that. I was happy because I only had a 20 hour itinerary. But that thought didn't last long. I flew from Lansing, Michigan to Minneapolis with no trouble. In Minneapolis, I boarded a plane headed for Tokyo. A few hours over the Pacific, there was a medical emergency that forced the plane to turn around and land in Seattle for about an hour. Having shut off my American phone line, I had to borrow someone's phone to email Nathan so he would know what was going on.
We landed in Tokyo around 11pm local time, about five hours behind our original plan. The delay caused everyone to miss their connections, so the airline shuttled us to various hotels where they put us up for the night, and arranged flights for the next day. If I had not been so upset, I would have enjoyed the delay, as it allowed to me spend a little time in Tokyo. But the long summer and letdown from the delay tainted it. I wasn't upset with the airline, but I was supposed to be spending that night with Nathan, but had to spend it alone in a hotel. I was able to chat online with him for awhile though, and that helped. The upside of the situation was that I was so tired from all the travel, I was able to sleep, which automatically adjusted me to the time change. Also it meant that the people picking me up wouldn't have to be out late, since my new flight would land in the afternoon instead of at night.
The next morning, I got breakfast from the hotel buffet, which was a combination of Japanese and American food. I took a shuttle to the airport, and had another round of confusion. I ended up in an international line, so I had to be sent to domestic. Once there, the Japanese workers looked at my ticket and began consulting with each other, looking worried. I soon found out that there are two airports in Tokyo, and I had been brought to the wrong one. The language barrier slowed down communications, yet they quickly made the point that I was going to be very close to missing my flight. One of the girls grabbed me and my stuff, ran me to the bus ticketing counter, and quickly got me on the next bus, telling me they would call the airport and tell them to hold the flight for me.
Once I arrived, I found an airline worker and showed her my ticket, trying to explain what happened. Like the girl at the last airport, she grabbed me and my bags and rushed me to security, then to my gate, where they were already boarding. I wasn't the last person on the plane, but it was close.
After a three hour flight, much shorter than the previous one, I landed in Naha, Okinawa. As I stood in the baggage claim, I spotted Nathan standing outside a one-way glass door, waiting anxiously for me. The wait for my bags was one of longest of my trip! Finally I had them all loaded onto a cart, and pushed it quickly out. We hugged for a long time, and kissed in front of an audience of people who had come with him. I met everyone in a blur, then rode with Chaplain Black, the chaplain Nathan works with, and his wife. Nathan held me the whole way while I looked out the window at all the new sites that were now home.
A lot has happened since then, so I will write another post about it. The past two weeks have been a flurry of many things, and there is a lot to say. I am overjoyed to at last be living with my husband, in our own place, with no separations in sight.
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