Another adventure!
The weather was clear and cold when i left the house Friday morning for my next installment of Travels with Papa! There were 6-7" of snow predicted for that evening, but the morning was clear and promising. Mom dropped me off at the aiport well on time. Within 10 minutes of being dropped off, i was checked in, through security (no shoes and all), and at the gate! Now for the hurry up and wait at the airport!
the flight from CLE to DTW was on-time and uneventful!
arriving at Detroit, the weather was cold, cloudy, and threatening.
Then the travel ritual starts!
First i exchange my US$ for a whole pocketfull of NT$! then it's off to start transitioning! cultural immersion.....diet conversion..... Eating! especially before getting on the plane!
It's a looooonggggg flight, and very little chance to eat in Osaka! arriving at the hotel 2:00a.m. local time, the only thing open is the 7/11!
So a little fresh protein, the real stuff, not the Wegman's/Giant Eagle veggie roll!
and a bowl of soba noodle soup! (must hydrate!)
Now to wait at the gate for 3 1/2 hr. wait for the next flight. boarding time comes and they announce that they are going to delay the flight for an hour while they wait for a connecting flight from minniappolis with 20+ connecting passengers on it! (mechanical delay they say!)
I understand, especially having missed this same flight before because they wouldn't hold for 8 passengers!
When we finally get to board, the weather starts to deteriorate very badly (snow!)
Not a problem, this is detroit afterall! can't let a little snow stop us!
Well we wait for another half hour before the connecting flight finally catches up! a lot of hustling and shuffling and we're closing the doors ready to go!
now they fire up the APU (Aux. power unit so they can disconnect from groung power) and engines! BUT! the plane is covered with snow and ice now! so before we leave the gate, they want to de-ice the plane. A very good idea (soon to go very bad!)!
while de-icing the plane, somehow "somebody" floods the APU in the tail of the plane with de-icer juice and shuts it down. Now the plane has no power, no engines, no nothing! Call maintenance! after about 45 minutes they get the APU back up and we're good to go! this time, they'll de-ice out on the runway just before takeoff! we'll be first in line! yippee!
We taxi out to end of the runway and then sit! they shut the engines and APU down to save fuel while we wait for them to plow the runway! (no APU, no air circulation,no lights, 500 people sitting there stewing!) this ain't no local puddle jumper, this is a 747 loaded with people, cargo, and fuel! Gross takeoff weight of a 747 is 750,000 pounds! that's a lot o weight! as they are now plowing the runway, they start us up and begin another de-ice! no take-off yet. they have to do "braking" tests on the runway! becuase a 747 uses everybit of it and if you can't make takeoff speed, now you have to stop before you run out of runway! (GOOD Thought!) As you may have guessed, did not pass! there were local/commuter planes taking off, but at 8:00 we start to head back to the terminal! The pilot(s) made an executive safety decision not to takeoff! As you can well imagine, the crowd was getting very restless! there was a lot of not knowing what comes next. by now the airport was closed to operations, and we weren't the only flight that was cancelled. it took a good half hour to get back to the terminal. they announced that a gate agent would give us further information when we get to the terminal! lots more grumbling from the assembled captive masses. My feeling is i'ld rather been safe than spread on I-75!
It's not like you could run over to United/Continental and try and grab another flight. the airport was closed, and there are no other flights to Taipei!
As we got back to the terminal, the crew announce that NW was going to put us up in local hotels with a meal voucher and the plane would leave at 9:00a.m. Be back at the airport by 7:00. No luggage except what you carried on! can you imagine the confusion of unloading that plane and then turning around in 8 hours and have to security check and load it all back on! that made waiting at the luggage area unnecessary! as we stepped off of the plane, the ground agents at the gate gave everyone a hotel voucher and $15.00 meal voucher. this part of the process was very well handled by NW and very efficient! definately an Attaboy!
So it's down to baggage claim and get a shuttle to the hotel....me and thousands of others! oh what a madhouse! a lot of peoples easter travel plans got put on hold.
finally, a shuttle for our hotel shows up and way to many people jammed into the back! (me, i took the front seat! hah!) stories about how long people were standed were plentiful!
this is the hotel leaving at 5:00 in the morning! i want to be early!
get checked back in and to the gate by 6:00! i'm glad the left a light on in the cockpit for the pilot to find his way back in the dark!
well, wait wait wait! that's what this trip is!
The flight to Osaka is delayed for whatever reason for 2 hours! we don't leave until 11:00a.m. the good news is that we left! so, now we have 15 hours to go to Osaka!
things quickly settle in the Plane routine! i've finished two books by now, slept, hydrated, urinated for the 14+ hours!
normally, you take the same plane from Osaka to Taipei. passengers get off with all their carryon and go through security screening. this gives them time to clean, service, re-fuel the plane. Nooooooooooo, not today! as we're taxing to the terminal after landing, they tell us that the plane is not continuing on to Taipei! Gate agents will give us more information when we have landed! Here we go again! turns out that this plane turns right around and is headed back to Detroit to get this circus back on schedule. so we deplane and everone going on to taipei ends up going to a different gate and those whose destination is Osaka, head on to customs!
When we get to our new gate, we check in and are given water and a "box" lunch!
What a very nice thoughtful touch. A little something to tide you over.
A very nice little snack! how thoughtful!
becoming a very suspicious person this trip, we soon learn why the snack!
We now have a 5 hour layover in Osaka! What they are going to do is fly the group from Friday's plane on Saturday's plane to Taipei! Oh well!
i went and found a lounge area where i watched sumo wrestling! apparently some major championship with a whole lot more ritual than you'll ever see on US tv! I'ts more than just fat guys in tongs belly bumping! these atheletes were treated with reverence and awe!
This is the first time at a gate area i spread out my stuff, laid down with my head on my laptop bag and went to sleep for a couple hours! it's not like they're going to leave without me knowing it!
FINALLY! arrived at Taiwan a day late! fortunately (for me) i had Fiona's cell phone number on my phone. When this all started hitting the fan, late friday, i called her at home (her saturday) and she helped to switch my hotel reservation and most importantly, rescheduled my ride from the airport to DouLiu. the rest of the week has been a blur of work, eat, sleep with the occasional walk thrown in! i had to get this post out of the way before i could start on my regular adventure stories! stay tuned for more!
the flight from CLE to DTW was on-time and uneventful!
arriving at Detroit, the weather was cold, cloudy, and threatening.
Then the travel ritual starts!
First i exchange my US$ for a whole pocketfull of NT$! then it's off to start transitioning! cultural immersion.....diet conversion..... Eating! especially before getting on the plane!
It's a looooonggggg flight, and very little chance to eat in Osaka! arriving at the hotel 2:00a.m. local time, the only thing open is the 7/11!
So a little fresh protein, the real stuff, not the Wegman's/Giant Eagle veggie roll!
and a bowl of soba noodle soup! (must hydrate!)
Now to wait at the gate for 3 1/2 hr. wait for the next flight. boarding time comes and they announce that they are going to delay the flight for an hour while they wait for a connecting flight from minniappolis with 20+ connecting passengers on it! (mechanical delay they say!)
I understand, especially having missed this same flight before because they wouldn't hold for 8 passengers!
When we finally get to board, the weather starts to deteriorate very badly (snow!)
Not a problem, this is detroit afterall! can't let a little snow stop us!
Well we wait for another half hour before the connecting flight finally catches up! a lot of hustling and shuffling and we're closing the doors ready to go!
now they fire up the APU (Aux. power unit so they can disconnect from groung power) and engines! BUT! the plane is covered with snow and ice now! so before we leave the gate, they want to de-ice the plane. A very good idea (soon to go very bad!)!
while de-icing the plane, somehow "somebody" floods the APU in the tail of the plane with de-icer juice and shuts it down. Now the plane has no power, no engines, no nothing! Call maintenance! after about 45 minutes they get the APU back up and we're good to go! this time, they'll de-ice out on the runway just before takeoff! we'll be first in line! yippee!
We taxi out to end of the runway and then sit! they shut the engines and APU down to save fuel while we wait for them to plow the runway! (no APU, no air circulation,no lights, 500 people sitting there stewing!) this ain't no local puddle jumper, this is a 747 loaded with people, cargo, and fuel! Gross takeoff weight of a 747 is 750,000 pounds! that's a lot o weight! as they are now plowing the runway, they start us up and begin another de-ice! no take-off yet. they have to do "braking" tests on the runway! becuase a 747 uses everybit of it and if you can't make takeoff speed, now you have to stop before you run out of runway! (GOOD Thought!) As you may have guessed, did not pass! there were local/commuter planes taking off, but at 8:00 we start to head back to the terminal! The pilot(s) made an executive safety decision not to takeoff! As you can well imagine, the crowd was getting very restless! there was a lot of not knowing what comes next. by now the airport was closed to operations, and we weren't the only flight that was cancelled. it took a good half hour to get back to the terminal. they announced that a gate agent would give us further information when we get to the terminal! lots more grumbling from the assembled captive masses. My feeling is i'ld rather been safe than spread on I-75!
It's not like you could run over to United/Continental and try and grab another flight. the airport was closed, and there are no other flights to Taipei!
As we got back to the terminal, the crew announce that NW was going to put us up in local hotels with a meal voucher and the plane would leave at 9:00a.m. Be back at the airport by 7:00. No luggage except what you carried on! can you imagine the confusion of unloading that plane and then turning around in 8 hours and have to security check and load it all back on! that made waiting at the luggage area unnecessary! as we stepped off of the plane, the ground agents at the gate gave everyone a hotel voucher and $15.00 meal voucher. this part of the process was very well handled by NW and very efficient! definately an Attaboy!
So it's down to baggage claim and get a shuttle to the hotel....me and thousands of others! oh what a madhouse! a lot of peoples easter travel plans got put on hold.
finally, a shuttle for our hotel shows up and way to many people jammed into the back! (me, i took the front seat! hah!) stories about how long people were standed were plentiful!
this is the hotel leaving at 5:00 in the morning! i want to be early!
get checked back in and to the gate by 6:00! i'm glad the left a light on in the cockpit for the pilot to find his way back in the dark!
well, wait wait wait! that's what this trip is!
The flight to Osaka is delayed for whatever reason for 2 hours! we don't leave until 11:00a.m. the good news is that we left! so, now we have 15 hours to go to Osaka!
things quickly settle in the Plane routine! i've finished two books by now, slept, hydrated, urinated for the 14+ hours!
normally, you take the same plane from Osaka to Taipei. passengers get off with all their carryon and go through security screening. this gives them time to clean, service, re-fuel the plane. Nooooooooooo, not today! as we're taxing to the terminal after landing, they tell us that the plane is not continuing on to Taipei! Gate agents will give us more information when we have landed! Here we go again! turns out that this plane turns right around and is headed back to Detroit to get this circus back on schedule. so we deplane and everone going on to taipei ends up going to a different gate and those whose destination is Osaka, head on to customs!
When we get to our new gate, we check in and are given water and a "box" lunch!
What a very nice thoughtful touch. A little something to tide you over.
A very nice little snack! how thoughtful!
becoming a very suspicious person this trip, we soon learn why the snack!
We now have a 5 hour layover in Osaka! What they are going to do is fly the group from Friday's plane on Saturday's plane to Taipei! Oh well!
i went and found a lounge area where i watched sumo wrestling! apparently some major championship with a whole lot more ritual than you'll ever see on US tv! I'ts more than just fat guys in tongs belly bumping! these atheletes were treated with reverence and awe!
This is the first time at a gate area i spread out my stuff, laid down with my head on my laptop bag and went to sleep for a couple hours! it's not like they're going to leave without me knowing it!
FINALLY! arrived at Taiwan a day late! fortunately (for me) i had Fiona's cell phone number on my phone. When this all started hitting the fan, late friday, i called her at home (her saturday) and she helped to switch my hotel reservation and most importantly, rescheduled my ride from the airport to DouLiu. the rest of the week has been a blur of work, eat, sleep with the occasional walk thrown in! i had to get this post out of the way before i could start on my regular adventure stories! stay tuned for more!
posted by Papa at
8:35 PM
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