my japan airplane horror story
x
x
oceansportrait encouraged me to write my own airplane horror story. & yeah I agree with you, Hikki's material gets worse & worse.
Originally I had planned to stay with my friend Celina who lives near Nagoya. But then Azurithe and I decided to find a hostel or hotel in Tokyo since we would probably be there most of the time. Then my mother found out my uncle was going to go to Japan as well & he offered Azurithe & I a place to stay (he was planning to stay with an ex-girlfriend). Azurithe & I agreed since it would save us some money & my mother thought it would be safer if I stayed with him. My uncle said I should call him as soon as I got off the airplane so he could make arrangements to pick me up from the airport.
As soon as I picked up my luggage, got through the immigration process ("Why are you in Japan?" "Do you plan to do any illegal activities in Japan?") I found the nearest payphone and called my uncle's ex-gf. To my surprise she told me my uncle was not in Japan (he had a problem with his visa) & she had decided to travel outside of Tokyo around that time. She was shocked my uncle had failed to inform me of any of this & after hearing the panic in my voice, offered to have one of her friends meet me in Shinjuku & help me check into a hotel. I figured I could do that on my own. What I really wanted was to get out of the airport & to talk to my uncle. I thanked her, told her I'd call her back (never got a chance to) & called my uncle on his cell. He was nebulous about the whole thing. He didn't deny or admit to anything. He told me he would think of something & to call him back in half an hour.
I hung up the phone dejectedly. I felt overwhelmed & took a few minutes to gather my thoughts. I was in a foreign country with barely any comprehension of the language (I had forgotten most of my japanese save the numbers ^^;;) or place. I started to go through various options in my head when my anxiety got the better of me & I began to cry. At first I tried to hold it in, crying wasn't going to help me get out of the airport or get me a place to stay, & it's embarrassing to cry in public. But then I thought, //who cares? I'm feeling distraught & the only thing I feel that I can do at the moment is cry//. So I stood in front of the payphone, cried for 15-20 minutes & tried to call my mother for help & my best friend for comfort. To my dismay both were not reachable. Admidst my disaster I had forgotten it was 3am in NYC. They were probably asleep. I breathed slowly, wiped away my tears, blew my nose & talked to myself quietly (calm down calm down) LOL ^^;;
I soon realized that I needed to notify Azurithe of the situation, hoping she still had her reservation with the hostel she originally planned to stay with. My situation was bad enough. I don't know how I could've kept my sanity if my friend was disappointed & pissed off at me on top of everything else. Fortunately Azurithe gave me her contact number in Hong Kong since she decided to visit some relatives there before meeting me in Japan. She was not at home, however I spoke to her uncle, left a message for her with him & apologized profusely. He was very nice & told me things happen & that I should worry about myself.
I called my uncle back. He said he was just on the phone with some friends (a couple) he had in Tokyo & convinced them to take me in. I hung up with him & called them as per his instructions. The wife was under the impression that I simply needed a place to store my luggage, not a place to stay. She felt sorry for me & tried to brainstorm ideas to help me. I told her I'd figure it out, thanked her for trying to help & called my uncle again. By this time I was on my second phonecard & it was running out of money. We got cut off as my uncle started to say "Why don't you try to. . . " click.
By this time I felt tired & wanted to cry more. I spotted a Starbucks across the room. I wanted to sit down but I didn't want to buy anything. Then I thought I could probably get away with sitting on one of the outside chairs. As I sat down I remembered I had to check in with the JRPass to finish registering. I had started the registration process after I picked up my luggage, however, I didn't know what date to activate my pass (that day or the next day) because the day it's activated counts as the first day & I needed the pass to last the duration of my trip. I promised the lady I would get back to her before closing time.
Wonderful, there goes another problem. I sat for an hour, cried, felt sorry for myself & decided to make another attempt to call my mother. One of the Starbucks employees & a japanese girl tried to comfort me in their own subtle & non-invasive manner, but I said I'd be fine. I bought another phonecard with some yen my uncle gave me (thank goodness I had something). My luck was horrible that day because while I was sitting down, someone had threw up near the payphones. Unfortunately for me, they were the only payphones on that floor. I had no choice but to bear with the puke stench & use the phone. I tried to sound less nasal as I spoke to my mother. I could tell she felt guilty because it was partially her fault I was in this mess. In fact, everytime she meddles in my business she ends up screwing me over. I know she doesn't intentionally do it on purpose, but nevertheless, she makes things worse for me. I told her to just let me do things on my own when I travel from now on. At least if things go awry for me, I'd have some control over it.
I think that was the main thing that made me feel helpless-the fact that I had no control over anything. Therefore I couldn't do anything.
I had enough of talking to my mom, assured her that I'd figure things out on my own. It was pointless talking to all these people. I was wasting what little money I had on phonecards & I was running out of time. I made my way upstairs since I recalled seeing some brochures for inns & hotels while passing by.
It turns out the brochures were at the Japanese Tourist center. The supervisor asked me if she could help me. I told her I had no place to stay due to last minute problems & wanted to find a decent hotel. She gave me some suggestions, asked me what my price range was, let me choose what I wanted & booked the reservations for the whole trip for me. I thanked the supervisor & asked her if there were any sweets that her & her staff liked. I could probably stop by on my way back to America & give it to them as thanks. She said there was no need. It was their job to help me. What nice people. I was extremely grateful.
The bus for the first hotel would leave in 45 minutes & was free! =D This gave me enough time to make it downstairs to the JRPass office to complete my registratiion. Finally things were starting to work out. Registration took longer than expected & I was about to miss the bus when the supervisor said to me "Come on I'll run with you!" & broke off into a mini sprint on pumps to the bus stop! I know this was definitely not apart of her job & thanked her continuously as I boarded the bus.
I checked into the hotel, called my mom to let her know things turned out ok, spoke to Azurithe so we could meet the next day, got something to eat, showered & slept.
Nothing particularly interesting happened during the trip except for the crazy old men we'd meet. The first old man was apparently still hung over from the night before. His skin was reddish & he had a staggering gait. As we walked up the highway stairs & as he walked down, for a minute there I thought he was going to fall on me. Instead he swayed back & forth, stared at my chest & repeated "大きね。大きね。" The guy was clearly out of his mind because I'm flat! XD & I could smell the liquor on his breath.
The second old man was a business man we met on the Shinkansen. He sat next to us & just started to talk in japanese & broken english. He said random things & I got the feeling he was hitting on Azurithe. He ignored me at first, even though I was sitting next to him ^^; Then he would talk to the both of us. He told me if his son wasn't engaged he would've liked to set me up with him ^^; He rambled about his girlfriend, his wife o_O & elbowed me in the boob a few times ;_: when he wanted us to laugh at his jokes. At first I thought he did it by accident, but I got suspicious because I could smell alcohol on his breath (I thought he was drinking lemonade. Turns out it was alcoholic lemonade) & folded my arms so he would elbow my seat or my arms. Luckily he got off before us & we were soon rid of him. ^_^
On my way back home to America, I didn't realize airport security would be tight due to the London bombing until I arrived. Thank goodness I decided to check in four hours early. All non-Japanese, especially Americans had to go through a specific security check by being pulled over to a special section. All of our belongings had to be x-rayed & searched through. I thought it was routine until they wanted me to write my name on a small notepad. This made no sense since my name was clearly visible on my passport & plane ticket. At this point I told them "Ok, no more Japanese, English please. Why do you need me to write my name down?" They were all very polite & told me in Japanese to wait for the supervisor to come & explain things to me.
The supervisor came 15 minutes later & appeared to be a petite, stern woman with a no-nonsense attitude. She asked me if speaking in Japanese was ok ("日本語はいい？"）, but I said I preferred English. She interrogated me a bit more about my trip & my possessions & said we had to wait for another supervisor. I was getting incredibly curious about the whole situation now. What was going on? Everyone else was allowed to go. Why did I have to stay & see supervisors? Not only that, the guy next to me was carrying two shot guns! Shouldn't he be more of a threat?
The second supervisor was a man who asked me more questions. He & the first supervisor took my museum & site brochures thinking they were important documents (LOL!!) & talked in hushed tones. They then questioned me about my nail polish remover & hand cream. It turns out my hand cream had an explosive chemical in it that showed up during the x-ray. They didn't think I was a terrorist but they had to make sure. They asked if I used any that morning. I said I hadn't, & even if I had, what did they think I would do? Swipe the backs of my hands together & create an explosion? LOL!
They let me pack up all my things & said I passed the security clearance. The lady who searched my things kept apologizing to me & saying she never thought I was a terrorist. I replied "大丈夫。大丈夫。" & proceeded to the long line at the check in counter. The rest of the trip home was normal.
The End.
Sorry this was so long guys ^^;;
Posted by Jubilee
x
oceansportrait encouraged me to write my own airplane horror story. & yeah I agree with you, Hikki's material gets worse & worse.
Originally I had planned to stay with my friend Celina who lives near Nagoya. But then Azurithe and I decided to find a hostel or hotel in Tokyo since we would probably be there most of the time. Then my mother found out my uncle was going to go to Japan as well & he offered Azurithe & I a place to stay (he was planning to stay with an ex-girlfriend). Azurithe & I agreed since it would save us some money & my mother thought it would be safer if I stayed with him. My uncle said I should call him as soon as I got off the airplane so he could make arrangements to pick me up from the airport.
As soon as I picked up my luggage, got through the immigration process ("Why are you in Japan?" "Do you plan to do any illegal activities in Japan?") I found the nearest payphone and called my uncle's ex-gf. To my surprise she told me my uncle was not in Japan (he had a problem with his visa) & she had decided to travel outside of Tokyo around that time. She was shocked my uncle had failed to inform me of any of this & after hearing the panic in my voice, offered to have one of her friends meet me in Shinjuku & help me check into a hotel. I figured I could do that on my own. What I really wanted was to get out of the airport & to talk to my uncle. I thanked her, told her I'd call her back (never got a chance to) & called my uncle on his cell. He was nebulous about the whole thing. He didn't deny or admit to anything. He told me he would think of something & to call him back in half an hour.
I hung up the phone dejectedly. I felt overwhelmed & took a few minutes to gather my thoughts. I was in a foreign country with barely any comprehension of the language (I had forgotten most of my japanese save the numbers ^^;;) or place. I started to go through various options in my head when my anxiety got the better of me & I began to cry. At first I tried to hold it in, crying wasn't going to help me get out of the airport or get me a place to stay, & it's embarrassing to cry in public. But then I thought, //who cares? I'm feeling distraught & the only thing I feel that I can do at the moment is cry//. So I stood in front of the payphone, cried for 15-20 minutes & tried to call my mother for help & my best friend for comfort. To my dismay both were not reachable. Admidst my disaster I had forgotten it was 3am in NYC. They were probably asleep. I breathed slowly, wiped away my tears, blew my nose & talked to myself quietly (calm down calm down) LOL ^^;;
I soon realized that I needed to notify Azurithe of the situation, hoping she still had her reservation with the hostel she originally planned to stay with. My situation was bad enough. I don't know how I could've kept my sanity if my friend was disappointed & pissed off at me on top of everything else. Fortunately Azurithe gave me her contact number in Hong Kong since she decided to visit some relatives there before meeting me in Japan. She was not at home, however I spoke to her uncle, left a message for her with him & apologized profusely. He was very nice & told me things happen & that I should worry about myself.
I called my uncle back. He said he was just on the phone with some friends (a couple) he had in Tokyo & convinced them to take me in. I hung up with him & called them as per his instructions. The wife was under the impression that I simply needed a place to store my luggage, not a place to stay. She felt sorry for me & tried to brainstorm ideas to help me. I told her I'd figure it out, thanked her for trying to help & called my uncle again. By this time I was on my second phonecard & it was running out of money. We got cut off as my uncle started to say "Why don't you try to. . . " click.
By this time I felt tired & wanted to cry more. I spotted a Starbucks across the room. I wanted to sit down but I didn't want to buy anything. Then I thought I could probably get away with sitting on one of the outside chairs. As I sat down I remembered I had to check in with the JRPass to finish registering. I had started the registration process after I picked up my luggage, however, I didn't know what date to activate my pass (that day or the next day) because the day it's activated counts as the first day & I needed the pass to last the duration of my trip. I promised the lady I would get back to her before closing time.
Wonderful, there goes another problem. I sat for an hour, cried, felt sorry for myself & decided to make another attempt to call my mother. One of the Starbucks employees & a japanese girl tried to comfort me in their own subtle & non-invasive manner, but I said I'd be fine. I bought another phonecard with some yen my uncle gave me (thank goodness I had something). My luck was horrible that day because while I was sitting down, someone had threw up near the payphones. Unfortunately for me, they were the only payphones on that floor. I had no choice but to bear with the puke stench & use the phone. I tried to sound less nasal as I spoke to my mother. I could tell she felt guilty because it was partially her fault I was in this mess. In fact, everytime she meddles in my business she ends up screwing me over. I know she doesn't intentionally do it on purpose, but nevertheless, she makes things worse for me. I told her to just let me do things on my own when I travel from now on. At least if things go awry for me, I'd have some control over it.
I think that was the main thing that made me feel helpless-the fact that I had no control over anything. Therefore I couldn't do anything.
I had enough of talking to my mom, assured her that I'd figure things out on my own. It was pointless talking to all these people. I was wasting what little money I had on phonecards & I was running out of time. I made my way upstairs since I recalled seeing some brochures for inns & hotels while passing by.
It turns out the brochures were at the Japanese Tourist center. The supervisor asked me if she could help me. I told her I had no place to stay due to last minute problems & wanted to find a decent hotel. She gave me some suggestions, asked me what my price range was, let me choose what I wanted & booked the reservations for the whole trip for me. I thanked the supervisor & asked her if there were any sweets that her & her staff liked. I could probably stop by on my way back to America & give it to them as thanks. She said there was no need. It was their job to help me. What nice people. I was extremely grateful.
The bus for the first hotel would leave in 45 minutes & was free! =D This gave me enough time to make it downstairs to the JRPass office to complete my registratiion. Finally things were starting to work out. Registration took longer than expected & I was about to miss the bus when the supervisor said to me "Come on I'll run with you!" & broke off into a mini sprint on pumps to the bus stop! I know this was definitely not apart of her job & thanked her continuously as I boarded the bus.
I checked into the hotel, called my mom to let her know things turned out ok, spoke to Azurithe so we could meet the next day, got something to eat, showered & slept.
Nothing particularly interesting happened during the trip except for the crazy old men we'd meet. The first old man was apparently still hung over from the night before. His skin was reddish & he had a staggering gait. As we walked up the highway stairs & as he walked down, for a minute there I thought he was going to fall on me. Instead he swayed back & forth, stared at my chest & repeated "大きね。大きね。" The guy was clearly out of his mind because I'm flat! XD & I could smell the liquor on his breath.
The second old man was a business man we met on the Shinkansen. He sat next to us & just started to talk in japanese & broken english. He said random things & I got the feeling he was hitting on Azurithe. He ignored me at first, even though I was sitting next to him ^^; Then he would talk to the both of us. He told me if his son wasn't engaged he would've liked to set me up with him ^^; He rambled about his girlfriend, his wife o_O & elbowed me in the boob a few times ;_: when he wanted us to laugh at his jokes. At first I thought he did it by accident, but I got suspicious because I could smell alcohol on his breath (I thought he was drinking lemonade. Turns out it was alcoholic lemonade) & folded my arms so he would elbow my seat or my arms. Luckily he got off before us & we were soon rid of him. ^_^
On my way back home to America, I didn't realize airport security would be tight due to the London bombing until I arrived. Thank goodness I decided to check in four hours early. All non-Japanese, especially Americans had to go through a specific security check by being pulled over to a special section. All of our belongings had to be x-rayed & searched through. I thought it was routine until they wanted me to write my name on a small notepad. This made no sense since my name was clearly visible on my passport & plane ticket. At this point I told them "Ok, no more Japanese, English please. Why do you need me to write my name down?" They were all very polite & told me in Japanese to wait for the supervisor to come & explain things to me.
The supervisor came 15 minutes later & appeared to be a petite, stern woman with a no-nonsense attitude. She asked me if speaking in Japanese was ok ("日本語はいい？"）, but I said I preferred English. She interrogated me a bit more about my trip & my possessions & said we had to wait for another supervisor. I was getting incredibly curious about the whole situation now. What was going on? Everyone else was allowed to go. Why did I have to stay & see supervisors? Not only that, the guy next to me was carrying two shot guns! Shouldn't he be more of a threat?
The second supervisor was a man who asked me more questions. He & the first supervisor took my museum & site brochures thinking they were important documents (LOL!!) & talked in hushed tones. They then questioned me about my nail polish remover & hand cream. It turns out my hand cream had an explosive chemical in it that showed up during the x-ray. They didn't think I was a terrorist but they had to make sure. They asked if I used any that morning. I said I hadn't, & even if I had, what did they think I would do? Swipe the backs of my hands together & create an explosion? LOL!
They let me pack up all my things & said I passed the security clearance. The lady who searched my things kept apologizing to me & saying she never thought I was a terrorist. I replied "大丈夫。大丈夫。" & proceeded to the long line at the check in counter. The rest of the trip home was normal.
The End.
Sorry this was so long guys ^^;;
Posted by Jubilee