We've Officially Been to Alaska!

And we stayed all night in a luxury hotel in Tokyo thanks to mother nature, but I am not allowed to collect plates or hat pins for those destinations - I didn't get to get to know the land and see the sights :-(

I am one of those people that watch the screen shots of where the plane is going, how long we have been in the air, how long we have to go and how stinkin' cold it is outside the windows of our safe little cocoon.

For the first time, I watched as the plane went from the normal west flow to circling back over our previous path and going east. At first I thought it was the all famous computer glitch - but I knew something was up when the entire crew was whispering among themselves and our destination had gone from 11+ hours to a mere 51 minutes - in Anchorage! There was still no explanation from the pilot and finally I nervously nudged Steve and pointed to the monitor. He nodded and said he had been watching it too.

Finally, the pilot came on with the grim but welcoming news - a volcano in our path had erupted and we were being diverted to Anchorage to get more fuel so we could fly around it, through Russia and come back to Japan. He reassured passengers that it was not a Japanese volcano, but a volcano on a small Russian island.

I must say the only real glitches in the entire diversion was in Anchorage where it took longer than planned for customs to get a flight change clearance, a passenger getting ill and promptly being removed (with his family) from the plane, and of course the extra long hours it tacked on to our journey.

I cannot imagine what these places of diversions were slammed with! Suddenly their quiet little airports being deluged with dozens of planes needing fuel and reserviced must have thrown a kink into the long days of work. It was rather prompt all things considered. Everyone on the plane was quite pleasant and we were back in the air as soon as we got our rerouting plan and the passenger and his family were evicted. Our nice little arc on the screen had turned into a nice little "Z's" and "S's". We seemed to be doing loops and curves to get to Tokyo, but we finally did make it.

When we got off of the plane, we had no idea what to expect. The China destined people were informed the connection had waited, but beyond that, we had no idea when we would be heading out. Steve and I knew without a doubt we had missed our fight - heck we were more that 3 hours later than when it would have left. Looking around curiously we found nice, tidy little signs with destinations written on them; Manilla, Vietnam, Moscow, Beijing... and Singapore - and HUGE lines of people.

At the counter after an amazingly short wait, we were told our flight out was a 11:15am "tomorrow". We were instructed to follow the lines to customs and on to a shuttle - and we would be given further instructions as we made our way through the lines. The lines were long and we expected hours of delays - but those lines zipped right along; we were given a 90 day visa into Japan, a card with a shuttle number and hotel name on it, and then whisked off to a preassigned hotel.

At the hotel, we were promptly and very politely checked in without question, handed a room key, two meal tickets, complimentary flight and airport discounts for our 'inconvenience' and a specific time circled to catch the shuttle to the airport for our flight. It was insane - looking at the lines we thought every new line was the catch - but we zipped quickly through each new line and recieved precise instructions on where to go next. There were hundreds of people in the same boat as we were - and we were all quickly and efficiently being taken care of with apologizies for the delays - ummm, not sure what they were talking about. We were spinning through the procedures as fast as humanly possible! Everyone was amazed and we were all laughing and visiting amongst us.

After a quick meal, we rested, showered and were back in route in no time. Finally arriving here in Singapore after 2 days in transit, I must say it was nice to have a place to light - even if I am up at 1am writting about it. So, we now have a Japanese stamp on our passport and have seen how efficiently the Japanese can whisk diverted passengers around - and still make them feel welcome and important.

When we arrived here, we were not even upset to see our luggage had gotten soaked in the Tokyo downpours - man, can you imagine all the luggage that was being tossed around to different carriers? I was super proud to see it had even MADE it back to us - entirely soaked or not!

A few inconveniences:








A few pleasantries:














A few new experiences:






A new friend Angela who loves picture books (yes, Steve tormented her as well - does he never stop teasing?):




The "Welcome Home" voiced from our host country customs agent and the taxi view of our second 'home' country:



I must say, it was nice to get back 'home' even if we had to leave our beloved other home. I never look forward to leaving the states, but Asia is once again a breath of fresh air - the welcoming politeness and never ending smiles are a reminder of how it should be around the world.

Hundreds of stranded commuters, hundreds of workers in multiple countries working together, three flight carriers, many new acquaintances and not one rude person :-)

You cannot ask for a more convenient inconvenience. Great job everyone!