Day 10: The Trip Home

I don't usually sleep well before an early flight, and experienced no exception to this rule before my trip home from Taiwan. I had to work to find the best places in my luggage to protect the gifts I was bringing back home, particularly because I brought no hard-sided luggage. I did manage to get about an hour of sleep before my bus call of 6:00 AM.

The day did not start out in the best possible way. It turned out that Dana and I were the only ones from the hotel scheduled for the trip to the airport at this time slot. Instead of the bus we were expecting, a large car was waiting. This did not seem to be a problem, as the car would be much more comfortable for trying to get some sleep on the two hour trip to the Taipei airport. We said our goodbyes to Lidia and Lili and headed out. Unfortunately, and to our surprise, our driver stopped at the hotel that housed the tournament officials, where one of the officials was waiting. There appeared to be no way we could fit five very large pieces of checked luggage, our carry-ons, the driver and three people in this car. It took ten minutes of arranging and re-arranging for the two bellboys to jam (and I DO mean jam) it all in. Instead of a comfortable ride with a good opportunity for sleep, Dana and I were jammed together in half of the back seat, while the tournament official sat up front in luxury, never even commenting on our plight in the back. Oh well, just another thing to add to our list of experiences.

I managed to parlay a baseball into an exit row seat and a one class upgrade upon my arrival to the airport. This made a huge difference in legroom for the long flights home. As I travelled alone, not much of interest happened to report, so I'll leave you with an accounting of my 24+ hour day in a time log. Whoever dreamed up this itinerary must have been looking for ways to maximize my frequent flyer points! Here goes (all times approximate and EST):

• 1800 - Leave for airport


• 2000 - Arrive at airport; stretch body from car ride for ½ hour


• 2300 - Flight leaves for Tokyo (2 ½ hour flight)


• 0130 - Flight arrives in Tokyo; go through Japanese security all over again


• 0400 - Flight leaves for Washington, D.C. (12 hr flight)


• 1600 - Flight arrives in Washington, D.C. (go through Customs, claim checked baggage, recheck checked baggage, go back through security)


• 1700 - Flight leaves for Detroit (1 ½ hr flight)


• 1830 - Flight arrives in Detroit; switch from United terminal to Northwest, go back through security)


• 1930 - 20 minute massage at airport to work out kinks


• 2130 - Flight leaves for Kalamazoo (1 hr flight)


• 2230 - Flight arrives in Kalamazoo


• 2300 - File missing bag report with NWA for equipment bag


• 2330 - Greet sister Tina, who graciously agreed to pick me up from the airport


• 0030 - Arrive home!

Reflections to follow...