Before I write a recap of my fantastic trip back to the states, I want to take a minute to share something I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't been there.
This starts with missed flight, which was caused by a several-hour delay stateside waiting for maintenance checks and de-icing. When I finally got out of customs in Japan, I had a total of less than half an hour to get my insanely heavy luggage onto the connecting bus, to the next terminal, off of the bus, and to the gate. I stopped and an information kiosk to try to find a better way but the language barrier was too much for the poor girl at the desk, who wasted 5 minutes of my precious time to tell me to just go take the bus I already knew I needed to take. Even after seeing the lack of time, she didn't think to call the gate and I felt so defeated by her lack of understanding that I was reluctant to demand it in any language. So I went out to meet the bus and a young man behind me offered to help with my luggage, which of course I appreciated.
For this return trip, I had two checked bags, each weighing more than 40 pounds. I'm not used to carrying anything that heavy and have to make this journey with a baby strapped to my chest while also carrying a computer bag, diaper bag, and extra souvenir bag. The last three were stack-able and roll-able so it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but moving that much heavy luggage was definitely a struggle.
So I get to the ANA desk area just as the lights dim. It's been five minutes since my flight to Sendai took off. Luckily my husband already knows of my predicament and is already driving to a bullet-train stop roughly halfway between Sendai and Tokyo. I decide to go ahead and get a Skyliner train tocket to Ueno station in Tokyo, from which I can easily board the bullet train. I consider briefly whether or not I should ship my bags but realize after I've bought my ticket that there is no time. If I am to make that train, I don't have an extra 15 minutes to fill out paperwork and pay to ship this stuff. I decide to take the elevator down to the basement level so that I can do what I can to get my heavy crap onto the train, only to find that the elevator doesn't go down that far, probably to stop people like me from trying to bring luggage carts onto the train. Once I figure this out, I run to the escalator where a woman insists I return to the elevator and take it down to the train departure level. As I insist that this is not possible, two foreign men appear and offer to help me move my bags on to the train. The one of them with English skills explains that I should really have sent my luggage back, which I could have done if I hadn't bought my tickets for the train so early. I no longer had time to do so, so the men helped me move my bags onto the train and left.
Then at Ueno a woman in her forties or so helped wheel my bag while I wore my duffle bag as an extremely heavy backpack on the walk from Keisei Ueno station to the other Ueno Station where I could buy a ticket for the bullet train and get on it.
While on the train, two younger ladies helped me stow my luggage and a conductor-type guy found me a seat.
About an hour later, I was departing the train and another woman helped me wheel the same bag down to there my husband was waiting.
Just two hours later, we were finally home, where we spent the next day sleeping and coming to the slow realization that I somehow came down the with flu.
Now we're all better and I am finally cracking open the mystery that is Jukepop Serials. The first chapter of the vampire novel should be online within a week. My problem now is that I need to find a better title than "The Vampire Novel" and finish editing the first chapter to something really readable. Also, some other details through the narrative need to change, just for the sake of becoming manageable.
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