Take Off From O'Hare

My dad woke me up at 4:45 am and told me we were leaving for the airport! :O WHAT?! I thought he was joking! He delivers newpapers in the morning, and I thought he was telling me he was leaving for the paper station and when he got back we were going to be leaving. Guess he woke up much earlier on Thursday so he could get the papers delivered early, then we could leave for the airport early. Thankfully, I only had 6 things on my last minute packing list, you know like toothbrush, and things you still need to use on the day you leave for a trip.

After packing my 6 things, and getting all my luggage in the van, we were off. We got to the airport so early, the workers weren't even there yet! :O There were about 6 Japanese people waiting, and that was it. there were only 3 seats, and there's a funny story with that. My dad went to the restroom and when he got back he tried sitting in one of the seats, and an old Japanese man sitting in the next seat put his hand up to block my dad and said something in Japanese. My dad just nodded his head not knowing what he was saying and proceeded to sit down. Then the man pushed my dad's arm and said it again. My mom and I happened to look over and started to tell my dad the seat was this man's wife's. It was kind of funny, but the old man did not look amused at all. I thought, "Great, he's probably going to be my companion on this long flight too!" (*note: He wasn't!*)

At first we technically weren't in line, but then we saw these people coming with huge boxes to be shipped and tons of luggage, so we quickly jumped in line. I don't remember what time they finally started checking people in, but it was some time after 7:30. I was able to check in rather quickly. I think the lady who took care of me was Sweedish. She had an accent, and had blonde hair, and her last name (which I can't remember now) seemed like it came from that region.

I was starving, so we went to the McDonald's in the airport. After we were done eating, I taped a video message from my parents to Nathan and Arlene. Then I told them I wanted to go through the security check so I could just find where I needed to be. (That was hard to say.) We went back upstairs and found the security checkpoint, and said our goodbyes. I went through security, and after I got all my stuff back I went to the side where I could see my parents in the distance and I waved to them so they knew I made it through ok, and I was saying by for one last time.

After I got my shoes back on, I strapped my passport keeper and my bookbag tote around my neck, put my backpack on, and headed off to find my gate - which ended up being right there! ;P ha ha So I went and sat down, with a pretty big knot in my throat. I put on my headphones and started journaling. I cried, but I tried to keep it to sniffles and not great sobs! Although holding back tears always gives me a headache, and I started to get a slight one.

Once the time came to board, they started announcing things in Japanese over the speakers. I of course did not know anything about what they were saying, so I just stayed in my seat. I waited until they started saying things in English (that's all I could do). There were so many people there. Old, young, bussiness men, babies they were all there. One thing I noticed, none of them carried much on the plane. I was surprised by that.

Finally, my section of seating was called, so I went and stood in line. I boarded the plane and found my seat without any problems. I passed all the "nice" seats, but I didn't care that I wasn't sitting in them. I figure, if the plane goes down, those people just crash in a different seat than me--theyre still gonna crash. Why waste the extra money. The flight from Chicago to Tokyo is a little over 12 hours. That's uncomfortable no matter what -- unless of course the airplane is entirely yours and you have a little home made up! That is not the case for most normal folks though.

After I was seated I kept watching people coming in, but everyone passed my row. I was sitting by the window and had 2 chairs next to me. After a while no one was in the aisle any longer. I couldn't believe my luck! I didn't have to share my row with anyone! :D yeah! I could stretch out if I wanted, and yadda yadda yadda. My celebraction was short lived. A woman came and sat on the aisle seat. She came out of nowhere, and at first I was a little upset. My bubble was popped! Right befor take off, she stood up and went 2 rows in front and picked up her pillow and shoes and some other stuff. So here, she was assigned to a different seat, but those seat were both filled, so she decided to sit in my row. I was kind of selfish about it, but got over it.

Once we took off, this woman talked to me, and we actually hit it off--I was surprised.