Coming home, Part 1

I want to get this all down while it is still fresh (and vivid!). We are still so incredibly grateful to be home (and not stuck in Vancouver, as thousands of other travelers are) and while we are still missing more than half of our luggage, we are just so relieved to be done with what was a very intense 48 hours.

The trip for me and the girls started at 10:30 on a snowy Sapporo Monday morning (6:30 p.m. Sunday night in Lethbridg), when we filled a small bus with six large pieces of luggage, five carry-ons and our stroller. John and Jack came with us on the hour drive to the airport (risking Jack's carsickness... but we did a test run with the Gravol, a Canadian anti-nausea medicine, and he was fine). The bus came 15 minutes early, so there wasn't a lot of time to take a last look around the Guest House that had been home or the neighborhood where we had so many good times.

We had no trouble checking in, and it was nice to have all the help from John, Jack and an HGU person who was able to translate everything. We said quick goodbyes and the girls and I headed off for lunch (one last Japanese meal the girls merely picked at) and through security. There was a play area outside of our gate where two young women entertained little kids (for free), speaking flawless English and amazing me yet again -- every aspect of "service" was incredible in Japan. Stores had enough employees, the airlines were well-staffed (in stark contrast to our experiences later in the trip on Air Canada), everything was on time when it could be, and efficiency and ability seemed to be the rule and not the exception.

We left at 2 p.m. Japan time (10 p.m. in Lethbridge). The girls were great on the two+ hour flight from Sapporo to Narita (Toyko), but the flight was awful. We encountered "unusual" air streams for that area, according to the pilot, and were flying into a headwind, while also enduring windshear from the side. It was the kind of turbulence where they tell you to make sure NOTHING is loose in the cabin. I went into "Hail-Mary-full-of-grace-the-Lord-is-with-three" mode, clutching the armrests and thinking about all the plane crashes I covered at different newspapers in my life. Kate and Liv LOVED it. "Ooooh, it made my tummy tickle again," they laughed, as I zipped through my prayers.

Finally we landed, and were about 30 minutes late because of the bad weather (with extensive apologies from the flight crew). We had to go through immigration and didn't have a lot of time to make our connection, and when we got to the area, there were about 300 people in the waiting area and a long line. I tried to make my way to the front to ask about the stroller and couldn't. I saw a couple holding Canadian passports and asked if I could leave the girls there while I ran up to check about the stroller. I asked if I could gate check it there and was told yes, so went back to the girls and got in line. When I got to the front, it appeared that I needed a different tag and there was a lot of last minute rushing around. My eyes welled with tears (the first of many times during the trip) as I explained how overwhelmed I was to be traveling with two little girls alone. I asked if there was any way we could have help when we landed in Vancouver getting through customs and baggage, etc. They said they'd call ahead.

Once we were on the plane (about 6 p.m. in Japan, 2 a.m. in Lethbridge), it was great. Again, Katie and Olivia were stars -- they LOVED the little TVs and movies, playing with the special toys I had, and reading the letters from friends we had carried with us the whole time. The girls slept a few hours each, but usually not at the same time. I probably only got about an hour or so of sleep.

We landed a bit early in Vancouver, 8:30 a.m. Monday local time (1:30 a.m. Tuesday in Japan, 9:30 a.m. in Lethbridge). It was beautiful -- and snowy. It looked like there was exactly one snow plow working on all the runways. When we got off the plane, our stroller wasn't there... they didn't know where it was... but they did have the golf cart to take us to get our luggage and go through customs. That was a LIFESAVER. All of our luggage made it, and I paid the skycap to carry all 10 bags, using all of my Canadian cash but figuring it was worth every penny (it was).

We had no problem going through customs (the agent said my paperwork was "perfect" -- including a letter from John saying I had his permission to be traveling alone across international borders with our children, and copies of everyone's birth certificates and marriage license) -- and they didn't even ask how many wonderful goodies we brought home with us.

The JAL people were great, too, despite it looking like they lost our stroller. As I started filling out the paperwork, though, they found it, brought it over, and sent us on our way with many apologies. The skycap followed me down to the Air Canada gate where I met kind person #2 (the person who called ahead was #1) of the trip. He said the flights were a mess. All 13 Vancouver-Calgary flights the day before had been canceled because of the snow, and my 2 p.m. flight was the first one scheduled to leave that day (at the time, it was scheduled for a 4 p.m. departure). He took the luggage (the last I have seen of it!), suggested a lounge where if you pay $25, you can stay for three hours with a buffet, leather chairs, and internet access, and wished us well, saying we would be home in no time at all.

When we left that checkin gate and security at about 10:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. Tuesday in Japan), we entered chaos. There were hundreds of stranded people and dozens of canceled flights. We found the lounge at 11 and settled in for a bit. I got my one and only email sent to John, letting him know we made it, that lots of flights were canceled, but that I should be leaving at 4:30. We hung out there until 1 p.m., (6 a.m. Tuesday in Japan) when we left. I figured I'd make sure the flight was still going to be late and not leave on time.

Silly me. My flight was canceled. I looked around for an Air Canada person to ask what to do -- and found NO ONE. The lines at the gates were incredibly......