This trip has been one of the most interesting that I have ever had. Please pardon the grammar throughout this as I frankly don't have the energy to both write and proofread at this time. You get one or the other!
The plan was to travel to Denver, Colorado for a MySQL training course from June 10th until June 16th and then return to DC to catch my flight to Tokyo, Japan on June 17th. The plan was that we would return home around 10 PM and my flight for Tokyo was leaving at noon the next day. This would give me enough time to re-pack for the next flight and get a bit of sleep. Instead it went more like the following…
Our initial flight to Denver from Reagan airport could not have gone any smoother. Due to my airline alliance status, I was able to upgrade both Chrissy and I to first class on both flights to Denver. The breakfast was fantastic and we enjoyed some free drinks of course. Everything was on time and our baggage was around the 3rd or 4th out. Avis, the rental car company, was not quite as smooth as they normally are, but we were able to switch some really ugly Suzuki SUV for an Impala. I am not a fan of big cars (or SUVs for that matter) but the Impala is not a bad one to drive around for a week.
The class went great and I learned quite a bit of valuable information about MySQL and its capabilities. In addition, the instructor was great and we had some fun times at Hooters and some other Irish pub in the Cherry Creek area of Denver. On Friday, June 15th a very good friend of mine invited Chrissy and I to a house in Breckenridge, Colorado, which is only an hour or so outside of Denver. Breckenridge is basically a ski resort town and is fairly quiet in the summer time. Since my class ended somewhat early on Friday, this worked out perfectly. We had a fantastic evening in the hot tub and touring around some resort houses. The stars were amazing from the top of the mountain. You could see a huge number of stars, especially in comparison to the polluted east coast sky.
On Saturday, June 16th, Chrissy and I drove from Breckenridge down to Denver airport to catch our flight home. I had chose my Skyteam airline of choice, Continental, to fly with. Of course, because of this, we had to connect through Houston as that is their primary hub. Yes, I know that United would have been a direct flight, but how else do you earn huge amounts of miles and free stuff if you don't stick with one alliance?
The flight is scheduled for the early afternoon and we had an hour and a half layover in Houston to catch our flight home to Reagan airport in DC. Instead, Houston has a ground stop due to thunderstorms and our flight gets delayed about 30 minutes out of Denver. No big deal we figure so we wait around a bit longer. Then, they change the flight to be around 3 hours delayed. Obviously we would miss the connection so I wait in line forever to speak with the agent at the airline counter. She informs me that there are 11 individuals connecting on my flight and that the connecting flight is being delayed until we arrive. Apparently the full ground stop in Houston was wreaking havoc on their systems and everybody was being delayed by several hours. I figure this sounds perfect and I sit back down until around 5:00 pm to catch our flight.
We board our flight and take off for Denver around 5:30 PM and I figure everything will work out somehow. The minute our tires touch the runway in Houston, I boot up my cell phone and check the status of our connecting flight. It had taken off 5 minutes before we landed.
Now the fun begins. It turns out that hundreds of people were missing connections at this time and all of the service counters had incredibly long lines. Since I've been in an airport or two, I had an idea. Instead of waiting an hour in line, I checked the security lines for people coming into the airport. There was nobody in the security lines, so I tell Chrissy to follow me and we leave the "secure" section of the airport and go to the front counter desks. Initially we were told that we have a confirmed flight the next morning (Sunday), but I had to explain very clearly that I had to be in DC before 10AM to catch my flight to Tokyo, Japan. At this time I asked to go to any airport on the east coast as I can find a way from there. After a minute or two, she tells me that she has changed both of our flights to Baltimore (BWI) airport. The only downside is that it is leaving in 5 minutes.
Chrissy and I run to the security checkpoints and once through, ran as fast as we could to the gate that the BWI flight was leaving from. We breathe a sigh of relief when the plane is still there and we board with minutes to spare. A funny side note to this is that the Baltimore flight was waiting directly next to the plane we had gotten off of. After we take our seats the captain comes over the intercom and says we are going to delay our departure by 30 minutes for other passengers to arrive. Apparently we aren't the only ones with this idea and there was no need to run ourselves to death!
A few more people get on and we finally depart late at night. We arrive at BWI at approximately 1:30 AM. We proceed to the baggage claim area knowing full well that our baggage has been lost at this time, but hoping for the best. Of course they were still in Houston and we would not get it until around 2 PM the next day. Alright, no big deal we will just go back to Reagan so I can get my car and go home. We find a taxi and pay $120 to get from BWI to Reagan at around 3 AM.
Due to some work reasons, I still had to swing by the office to pick up some disks that I need to take with me on my next trip. By the time I got back in my car at the office and started heading home from DC, it is 4 AM. We got home around 5 AM but I still need to pack for Japan now that my luggage was missing. I drop Chrissy off and she goes to bed while I head for Wal-Mart to get some needed items, like clothes and hygiene products.
I finish at Wal-Mart and get home around 6:30 AM and start packing another suitcase that we had. I get everything packed up and feel good about actually being ready for my next trip considering all that had happened. I was just zipping up my computer bag when I realized that I didn't have my CD case that was absolutely necessary for the work I needed to perform. I wake Chrissy up and ask her where the CD case is. I am told that it is in the book bag she had brought with us. After taking everything out of the bag I had not found the case yet. At this time, Chrissy starts crying because she realized that she left it on the plane. She was worried about the 8 DVD movies and I am worried about my needed software for the work to be done overseas. Thankfully I had already made backups of everything on my laptop and I was able to re-burn the CD with all the needed software. I am also extremely thankful that I did not have anything that was proprietary or classified in the CD case for work!
After that little fiasco I am finally ready to leave for the airport around 7:30 AM. I had already arranged days before for my father to pick me up at home around 8 AM so that we could have a father's day breakfast and he could take me to the airport for my flight. I had about 30 minutes to sit down after the previous 24 hours to get ready for another long flight.
Breakfast was good and my father dropped me off at the airport around 10:15 AM and I check in for my flight to Tokyo. Thankfully the flight to Minneapolis was uneventful and I caught my flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo with no problems. This was the fastest flight in history for me. I boarded the flight, fell asleep and woke up a few minutes later at Narita airport in Japan, or at least that is how it felt!
Normally I would catch the Airport Limousine service which is simply a coach bus to various parts of the city. My hotel was the Westin Tokyo in Ebisu and the next bus was not leaving for an hour and I really just wanted to get to the hotel as soon as possible. I walk around a few minutes and decide that it is easier just to catch a taxi. I catch a taxi and we head off for the Westin.
$160 dollars later in taxi fares we arrive in Ebisu. The Airport Limousine service is only about $30 for the ride. Oh well, after the past couple of days, I am just happy to have a bed to sleep in for a night and get back to a normal schedule! The next few days are full of work with a colleague in Kawagoe, Toda City, and Koriyama Japan which include quite a few train rides/transfers between them.
Due to the work needed to be performed in Koriyama, we (my coworker and I) needed to stay two nights in a hotel near the site. Apparently there was a convention going on in Koriyama during our two nights and every hotel room in Koriyama was sold out. My coworker had to do some serious explaining to a hotel about 30 minutes outside of town to allow me to stay there. The hotel was a Japanese spa with hot springs. Typically they do not have Westerners such as I stay at the hotel so I did not want to push my luck by going to the hot spring area as well. I was simply happy to have a place to stay, though there was absolutely no internet connection available as it was a place for relaxation only.
Once we completed our work in Koriyama on Friday, we headed off to Kyoto. In Kyoto I visited a couple of incredible temples and enjoy them greatly. In the afternoon we take a train to Osaka, Japan to go to a Hanshin Tigers baseball game. The baseball game was absolutely great and I had a wonderful time there. We return to Kyoto for the evening and repeat the next day.
On the second day, I had to leave the game early to catch my flight from Osaka, Japan to Bangkok, Thailand where we had to be next. I get to the airport a little bit before the check in counters open for Northwest airlines so I do a little browsing around until the counters opened. When the counters open I am the second person in the World Business Class line so I get to the agent very quickly. At this time I find out that my flight to Taipei has been delayed 3 hours (again!) and that there was no way that I would catch my flight from Taipei to Bangkok. Here we go again…
I tell the agent that I had a business meeting at 10 AM Monday, which was true I might add, and that I definitely had to be there by at least 9 AM. The Northwest manager came over and looked over my scenario and immediately called Thai airways and bought me a business class ticket for the next flight. I give a huge amount of respect to this manager for taking this action so quickly. The only downside to this change was that it was a flight leaving 6 hours later. At least I had my checked luggage still so I did not lose it! I walked around the airport and had a decent Japanese meal, returned my rental cell phone, and converted 10,000 Japanese Yen to 2,300 Thai Baht. After wandering around the airport for so many hours I couldn't wait to get on my flight.
Again, I passed out on the airplane as soon as I boarded and woke up in Thailand at 5:30 AM. Since I was asleep I missed the point where the flight attendant gives you the necessary customs paperwork to fill out. I arrived at the passport control counter by the time I realized I had not filled out a card. Thankfully the officer was pretty calm about it and let me fill one out on the side while he helped the person behind me. Once I was finished with this, we proceed to our hotel in Bangkok and get checked in around 6:30 AM. We had to catch our ride to the factory at 9:00 AM so there wasn't much time to get any additional sleep.
Now, if you value your life at all, you will never ride a vehicle in the streets of Thailand. While there appear to be traffic laws, they don't really mean much. The speed limit on the expressway said 80km/hr but our driver was averaging around 120km/hr when traffic wasn't stopped. Why slow down your vehicle for a toll booth if you don't need to stop? The experience of going through a narrow toll booth at 100km/hr is one that I definitely do not look forward to repeating.
We survived the ride into the office and had a pretty good morning for work.
We decided to have lunch in the company cafeteria which sounded like a good way to get a taste for local foods. The meals were only 20 Baht and I gave the lady a 100 bill. I received my change and I started to walk away. At this time I get a loud voice yelling at me. I turn around and the lady is waving the 100 bill around and I have no idea why.
Finally someone says "Chinese money" and I realize that the money I have is Taiwanese dollars instead of Thai Baht. The currency exchange counter in the Osaka airport had assumed that I needed Taiwanese money because apparently Thailand and Taiwan sound a bit similar in a foreign accent and also my original flight had me connecting through Taiwan anyways. A simple mistake that I should have definitely caught at the counter. The obvious signs I missed; one, Chinese letters on the money and two, no picture of the Thai King. The fact that I missed this shows how badly I screwed that up. After returning the change to the lady at the cafeteria and getting my useless Tawainese money back we had a good laugh about it. It turns out that nowhere in Bangkok that I could find would exchange Taiwanese Dollars back into Thai Baht. Instead I ended up converting some other Japanese Yen I still had into Thai Baht to get me through a little while.
We ended up staying at work until very late in the evening and getting back to the hotel around midnight. Thankfully it was late at night on the ride home so the fears of death were not as often as during rush hour.
The next morning I was supposed to meet up with my coworker at 8:30 AM in the lobby to catch the ride into the factory where we absolutely had to be by 9:40 AM due to other reasons. Instead I wake up to a phone call at 8:40 AM and get a much deserved lashing due to my oversleeping. I get ready in minutes and run down to catch our ride in. Thankfully the next day was rather short and we ended up getting out around 4:00 PM.
Again, I get to have the pleasure of riding in a vehicle in Thailand. This time we ended up taking a couple of back country roads that were the simple two lane, one each direction type. Our van ended up catching some traffic that consisted of 1 panel truck in the very front, a semi with a trailer of cars, several standard cars and some motorcycles. After a couple of minutes, the semi decided that he was tired of waiting for the panel truck and proceeds to pass him. Normally this makes sense of course. The small detail in this little story is that traffic was still coming from the other lane as the semi was passing the panel truck. It was rather curious to see cars being driven off the road because a large semi is coming at your head on. Once the semi started passing, everyone else behind him followed suit. When our "turn" came to pass him, we just started driving in the oncoming lane regardless of the traffic coming towards us. It was rather scary to see a car coming at you head on at a very close distance like that.
Somehow we survive the second round of driving and make it back to our hotel. We take a little while to relax and meet up for dinner. After talking to the concierge, we find out that a lot of people like a place called "Cabbages & Condoms" that is nearby. We get a good chuckle out of the name and figured it was probably just pronounced some different way. It turns out, no it was intentionally named condoms because the owner of the place is an organization similar to Planned Parenthood that uses all the proceeds of the restaurant to help education projects and such. In addition, the food was absolutely amazing and the environment was fun.
After the great food we had a couple of drinks in the hotel lobby and generally felt much better that the hardest part of the work was finished. Due to some other circumstances that came up it turned out that I had to reschedule my trip home to be on Saturday, June 30th instead of Thursday, June 28th so that I could visit another site in Japan. After all of this was taken care of, I ended up sleeping until 2:00 PM on Wednesday to catch up on all my "sleep debt". I cannot express how much better I felt once I woke up from that sleep!
That evening was the ride in a Mercedes between the hotel and the airport in Bangkok. The driver asked me if it was ok to go fast. I figured, I survived the past few days, why not and said sure. When I looked at the speedometer next, the needle was floating around 162km. If nothing else, 160km is a very easy conversion to remember! The nice thing is that a Mercedes does feel quite smooth at fast speeds. Of course I had the pleasure of experiencing the toll booth speed through once again. Arriving at the airport was a fairly comforting feeling that I was at least done with the ground transportation in Thailand.
My flight from Bangkok to Tokyo ended up being very calm for a change. I did sit next to a man who was well over 80 by his own admission. He was originally born in Quebec, Canada but moved to Japan 56 years ago and is a permanent resident of Japan. I had some rather interesting conversations with him through the flight. A person also tried to sneak into the Business Class section of the aircraft and the attendant ended up forcing him back to his original seat after a while.
I had to wait around in Narita for about 2 hours for my coworker to arrive and we proceeded to take another 3-4 hour train ride to Iwaki Japan.
We checked into the Iwaki Washington Hotel which looked very nice from the lobby and I figured would be a nice place to stay. Turns out that the room size is extraordinarily tiny and you couldn't find a place to set two bags down comfortably! Otherwise, the room was clean and it was a place to sleep for an evening.Iwaki we took a train back to Ueno station. During the ride down you could see the Pacific coast which was a very pretty site.
At this time I am sitting in the Hilton Narita airport looking at the 747's landing at the airport. I absolutely cannot wait to get home and relax for a change! Here's to hoping that tomorrow's flight will not be as adventurous as the past few have been!