This was *supposed* to be a post about Okinawa...

Sage advice... who knew.

I booked this flight a couple months ago when I happened upon a nice cheap fare. While it would have been nicer to take a whole week or something, a 4 day weekend get away from the snowy north was just what I needed. Trying to do this as much on the cheap as possible opted for an overnight bus on the way to Tokyo and also made sure to stock up on dried snacks for the trip to cut down on how much junk food I bought when the hunger pangs struck on the way.  I chanced taking the last possible shinkansen from Shichinohe to Hachinohe (almost half the price I thought I'd have to pay cuz I didn't have to get a reserved seat. Woo woo!) and made my connection to my bus with plenty of time to spare. 8 uneventful hours later, I arrived in Shinjuku and made my way to the train station for the next leg of my journey. Since I arrived at 6:30am food options were limited, but there was precious, precious Starbucks. I even found myself a cheap western breakfast (egg, ham, half a kiwi, yogurt with fixings and a cup of tea for ￥500 at Beck's coffee). Killed a little time wandering around the stations, but eventually wanted a break from carrying my bag and decided to catch the Narita Express to the airport.

Better to be early than to cut it too close, right?

Had a chat with an Aussie from Sydney as we approached the airport (we both pretty much fell asleep as soon as the train started going and were only conscious enough to make conversation as we approached our destination.) Made my way to the JetStar check-in counter and tried to use the automated kiosk. First time, I was too early... by 3 minutes. Second time, I was able to check in, but the only thing I got out of the machine was a series of beeps. "We are unable to complete printing your boarding pass, please go speak with a representative of the JetStar team."

I queued up.

The clerk informed me that my boarding pass had already been printed.

"Are you sure you didn't just leave it?"

"It didn't print anything, it just beeped at me."

"You're positive you didn't leave it behind."

"It said it was unable to print it and told me to come speak to you."

"Ok, but you have to be careful, you wouldn't want someone else to end up with your pass"

*eyebrow twitch.* "Yup. Thanks."
She then asked me which machine it is and grabbed a roll of paper to try and solve the printing issue. I took my poverty-boarding pass and headed up to the 4th floor to seek some form of healthy lunch and to get off my feet. I found salad, which isn't quite crunchy enough to eat with a fork, so I ended up eating it with chopsticks. "What the hell has become of me...?" I wondered.

I killed a little time browsing all the overpriced things. Eventually I settled down at the boarding gate (after making sure I haven't missed a Starbucks for one more cup of coffee and to refill my supply of VIA instant packets I keep in my back for school visits) and dove into The Hunger Games.

It started to snow a little, which mostly ignored as I waited to board the flight. One shuttle bus later, we were settling down in our seats for the 3 hour flight down to Okinawa.

Except: I managed to misplace my precious, precious kindle.

"NOOOOOO! What the hell am I going to do for 3 hours on this flight??? Goddamnit, where did I put it. Jeebus, Cathie. Tighten up!" I cursed myself silently. After a few phone calls, my e-reader is returned to me and I got back to reading. "Shouldn't be long now..."

*kkkkssssssh* "This is your captain speaking. We regret to inform you, that due to the snow, take off will be delayed. The plane must undergo de-icing. This should take about 20 minutes. We apologize for the inconvenience."

30 minutes later

Wait...wait...wait...

Snow-folds.

*kkkkkssssssh* "This is your captain speaking. Due to the number of flights requireing de-icing and the limited number of ground crew available to do this, it will take a little longer. We are unsure how long it will take for them finish preparing this flight. We appreciate your understanding, and apologize for the inconvenience."

By this time, the cabin crew have stopped asking us to keep our phones set to "flight mode" and turning off our electronic devices in preparation for take off. Babies cry, the near constant 'bing-bong' of the attendant buzzer was almost enough to make you grumpy. But I just sat, reading, and snacking on my supplies... and watched the snow pile up on the window.

90 minutes later

*kkkkkksssssssh* "This is your captain speaking, thank you for your patiences. We at JetStar regret to inform you that, due to weather conditions, this flight has been cancelled. We apologize for the inconvenience."

We were then loaded back up on the shuttle bus and driven back across the tarmac to the gate... then joined the super-duper-long-line to attempt to re-book. Once again I thanked my lucky stars that my kindle was recovered. About 30 minutes into my line ride I got an email telling me my flight had been cancelled, and to either call a number or speak with someone in person to re-book. Given the number of people who were on their phones, I opted to wait on re-booking over the phone and instead emailed the guest house and rental car places to let them know my flight was cancelled. The last thing I needed was to get dinged for not showing up.
For the most part, folks were complacent and just chatted calmly with each other in line. At one point a JetStar employee came down the line talking of something in Japanese and waving some papers around. An elderly man did not take too kindly to whatever was on these papers and spoke quite sternly to the guy and later to another lady regarding the same matter. After waiting in line for 3.5 hours I am finally at the front of the line (and there are only eight  left in The Hunger Games).

All the lonely people... where did they all come from...
(stolen from Deag's fbook)

The flights for the next day are all booked up. As I only had 4 days, and my flight on Tuesday was first thing in the morning, going out for an evening seemed an even bigger waste of time. The fellow said that I should call this number, and handed me a copy, in English, of the same sheet that the old man was grumpy about ahead of me in line.

I called the number and the flaky sounding girl on the other end said that I would get a voucher for the cost of the fare that I had to use within 6 months.

Impressed-face

Super.

I'd eaten all my snacks while waiting on the plane, it was time to seek out something for dinner... and an outlet to charge my phone... and somewhere to sleep and shower. I managed 2 out of the 4, I guess that's not too bad.

I wandered around pretty aimlessly for a while, but eventually popped into a bathroom on the 4th floor. While washing my hands I happened to overhear

"somethingsomethingsomething JET somethingsomething 4 years and still can't really speak Japanese somethingsomethingsomething."

Sweet. I have found fellow lost souls. I emerged from the rest room and asked if I could join them. 3 Americans and an Irishman. One of the boys was super excited to have tracked down a long lost friend and wanted to try and find her. We chatted a bit, then tried to find out what was going on with transportation from the airport. I had nowhere to go, and internet searches for Tokyo accomodations looked pretty grim. We all took turns guarding base-camp and the precious electrical outlet we had surrounded. Every so often someone would get antsy and decide to scout out the lower levels to see if there was any movement via public transportation. One trip to the train counter yielded some false information which got everyone to leave. My phone wasn't charged and I didn't want to get smooshed in the-sure-to-be-crowded mass exodus which would be sure to follow an announcement that the trains were up and running once more. So, I decided to wait and continue to read. I was also not too sure about the information the woman gave us in the first place. All she said was that we should come back at 11. I felt that only meant that we should check. Besides, if things were moving quickly, surely one of my new hallway-buddies would drop me a LINE.

Plus, it was nice to sit.

My suspicions were confirmed and they were going to come back up and join me once again. Lucas sent me a message to find out if I had saved our spot. Years of training in front of the TV had paid off and yes, yes I was. We gained another person, Lucas was super excited to find a long lost friend of his, and eventually located and returned with her in tow. A fellow Canadian, from outside of Toronto. After a while, we wondered why he was so excited to find her, but... that's not for here.

Base

Jana read online that there were sleeping bags being distributed, so the boys went out and found some for us. There were some Chinese-sounding fellows next to us who got their beer-on and were still at it around 3 am when I roused briefly.

Breakfast is served

Around 5:30 am, I was sufficiently sore and stiff from my night on the ground to set out in search of breakfast. It was hard to say how long we would be there, so I did my best to find things to last the long haul. 7-11 was my closest prospect and proved to be the best. I did pretty well with finding cheese, cereal, pickles and peaches. To be honest, I was pretty pleased with what I had managed to come up with. I got a set of utensils, too! Sev's machine brewed coffee was decent, especially when I spiced it up a little with some VIA caramel.


As with the day before, we took turns checking to see if things were running yet. Tensions ran high as one of our party didn't seem to get that the rest of us didn't need to hear their every thought. This drove Jana to head out and try to escape from Terminal 1, where it seemed the planes were still moving. It was just Terminal 2 (mostly domestic flights) that seemed to be grounded. Shuttle busses continued to run between the two. We wished her good luck, and she was off. Lucas kept attempting, by various means, to get gone as well. However his attempts were continuously thwarted (aka delayed and then ultimately cancelled... every freaking time.) Lindsey, Déaglan and I had resigned that we would give up on flying and just wait for the trains and busses to resume and head North. They had wanted to get to Sapporo for the Snow Festival, and instead had the snow come to them.

Welcome to the Hotel Narita... you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave. O.O

I desired a change of scenery. Déaglan and I went outside with the intention of reading, and instead shot the shite until Lindsey joined us.

Wine and cheese lunch.
Ya'll be jelly of my level of class.

Time for a montage...
(Pic stolen from Lindsey's fbook)

A decision was reached: if we were going to be trapped at the airport by gorgeous weather, we may as well have beer. Linsey and I went searching at various conbinis. We bought out one store's supply and returned to bask in the sun... which may have been sufficient to sunburn Déaglan's hand. Damn his pale Irish skin. Us gals just laughed at him.

and the reason we are still here is...?

At least we still have cheap wine.

Feasting upon plain sponge cake

As dinner time drew near, we went back inside to regroup and check the train standings. Both food and alcohol supplies at all the various stores had been all but depleted. Seriously, I think we were down to cooking sherry (which we bought and drank) and dried squid testicles (I don't know that's a thing, but, it sounds like it would be... actually, that sounds like something that would be the first to go... ummm... so... mouldy oranges)

Finally, around 17:00, we got word that the trains had resumed. We had no desire to get stuck in the mob, so, we waited an hour or so and went down later. Besides, we had all these beverages we didn't want to have to carry the whole time. Déaglan offered the use of his futon for the night, since it would be too late for me to get a Shinkansen all the way north, and we hit the rails. I think we waited in line for all of 5 minutes for a train and were off for a night of kebabs, cooking sherry, chuhais and Jack & coke, winded things down with 3 hours of karaoke.

Beautiful.

No, there is no photographic evidence. Nor should there be. Just take my word for what a glorious disaster we all were. Voices like a choir of angels shook the walls of that karaoke box. Sum 41, No Doubt, 4 non-Blondes, Green Day, Ke$sha, Beyoncé, Rancid, Sublime, all re-interpreted with that Japanese echo-vox and our increasingly raspy JD ravaged voices.

I miss your cuddles, Frank. <3

The only photos I have from my time in Ōta are of Frank, the giant stuffed dog who cuddled me nice and close that night. What a lovely soul.
Fed, caffeinated and able to walk a straight line (mostly... it was all slippery an' shit with snow... ), I set off on my 5+ hour journey back to Aomori. Fairly uneventful save for the weird guy who started talking to me all sketchy-like on the train platform at Tatebayashi. Aomori greeted me in her usual fashion... folks had been complaining about the snow and as usual I was unimpressed by the amount on my car. Hell, I didn't even have to shovel my damn drive way.

Buncha candyasses, the lot of you.

To recap the modes of transportation I used... : Car to Shichinohe-Towada Stn, Shinkansen to Hachinohe, Bus to Shinjuku, Train to Narita, Bus to the plane, bus back to the gate, 2 trains to Ōta, car to karaoke, taxi to apartment, 3 trains to Omiya Station, Shikansen to Shichinohe-Towada, car back home. With about 30 hours in an airport hallway in the middle of it. Is it any wonder sometimes I just stay home, make soup and watch cartoons?

The moral of the story is is: PAY ATTENTION TO THE DAMN SIGNS! 

Later, Holmes.