Back in the U.S.

Well, the kids and I arrived back in the U.S. yesterday. While I'm certainly glad to be back for a month, the trip home was certainly not short or hassle free.


We booked our return trip home on United Airlines. We would fly from Bangkok to Tokyo, layover ninety minutes there, then take an eleven hour and thirty-nine minute flight to Chicago. We had scheduled a five hour layover in Chicago before proceeding to Cincinnati. The reason for the long layover was that although there was a flight for Cincinnati an hour and a half after we landed in Chicago, Tim and I were concerned that we might miss it. Not only did we have to clear customs and immigration, but we had to switch terminals, which would require going through security again.

We arrived at the airport in Bangkok at 4:50 a.m. for our 6:50 a.m. flight. While we arrived plenty early, we were the last people who made it on our flight. In addition to a long line for immigration, I decided to get the kids a sandwich before we left. There are a lot of nice shops and restaurants at the airport, but the are all before you clear security. So instead of getting a sandwich and drink and eating it at the gate while we waited, we ate at the sandwich shop on the other side of security. I lost track of time a bit. When we went through security (which had virtually no line), we were greeted by an United employee who escorted us to the plane.

The trip from Bangkok to Tokyo and Tokyo to Chicago were pretty uneventful. It was a long and boring trip for certain. While United does have a screen in every seat, they don't have the on demand entertainment system that a lot of other airlines have installed. The would loop the same nine programs over and over. The kids did enjoy Horton Hears a Who, but there really wasn't a lot there.

The kids were really spectacular during the trip. Aleena slept a fair bit, and Jacob and Nalin somewhat less so. They really made a great effort in not fighting with each other. Shortly before we arrived in Chicago the flight attendant complimented the children on their behavior. Then she started babbling about children's behavior, and the jist of what she was saying was that Japanese children were so much better behaved than Chinese children.

During the entire trip I told myself that once we got to Chicago that things would be all down hill. We'd be back in the U.S., get a nice meal, relax a bit, and then have a short flight to Cincinnati. I wouldn't have to worry about the language barrier once I got there, or at least it wouldn't be my fault.

Well, I was correct in that things went down hill in Chicago. Things actually started pretty well. We cleared immigration very quickly. There was a big queue for the U.S. citizen section as we arrived at immigration. As we walked up to the queue entrance, the guard motioned for us to keep walking to another queue a little further up the hall. The line there was probably an eighth the size of the first line, so we cleared in less than ten minutes. While we had to have our luggage scanned at customs, it was all pretty painless.

We then got on a train that took us to the domestic terminal. This requires you to clear security again. It wasn't a huge deal since we had intentionally left ourselves plenty of time to make it. Of course, the entire reason we left the extra time was in part because of this wonderful airport "feature".

After we cleared security (for the third time that day), we found an airport that was pretty crowded. Our flight wasn't on the board yet, but there was an earlier flight to Cincinnati leaving out of section C. We were in section B, and made the ten minute walk over to section C. After we were there for a while, I finally asked someone about our gate. If you guess it was back in section B, you are correct. We made the walk back over to section B.


I really wanted to sit down at a restaurant, but the only one in the terminal, Chili's, had a wait. By this point the fatigue had really caught up with my mentally. I was getting grouchy with the kids, and getting on them for really small things. We finally ate some sandwiches at a deli. The food wasn't bad, but was kind of expensive.


After eating we headed to find a seat at our gate. It was full, so we sat in at the gate next to it. After a while, I sent Jacob up to check to make sure that we were indeed at the right gate. I watched as he walked up to the gate attendant and asked her my question, and as they walked together towards the gate at which we were sitting. I walked up to her, and she told me that there was a gate change. If at this point you are jumping up and down yelling "oh, I bet they have to go to section C again", then pat yourself on the back, because that indeed is what has happened.


So again, we made our way over to section C. I don't want to make it sound like we had to walk miles and miles to go back and forth between B and C. Still, it was challenging. I had slept only an hour or so over the past 24 hours, and was responsible for three small and tired children. Since the kids are so young, we had to do almost everything together. If one had to go to the rest room, for example, we all had to go over there. I couldn't leave the kids to sit by the gate while I went to get a coffee or a bottle of water. The circumstances just made everything more difficult, and made walking from B to C frustrating.


When we got to the designated gate, I went up to the agent to verify that I was in the right place. He looked up the flight and told me that the flight had been cancelled, and directed me to the customer service counter a few hundred meters away.

We made our way to the customer service counter to find a line of people already there. It seems as if we might not have been the only flight cancelled that day and United thought that two clerks and a thirty plus minute wait was adequate customer service.

Standing in line behind us were some teachers from a Cincinnati high school who were returning with nine students from a trip to Europe. They were not really excited about the possibility of spending yet another night with the kids and a couple of bossy parents. I think it was some type of religious school, but I'm not sure. They were really nice and were chatting with Jacob. While I wasn't rude, I wasn't particularly friendly because I was so frustrated and tired. The teachers talked about trying to get a flight to Dayton if the last flight to Cincinnati was full that night.

When I got to the counter, the customer service representative informed me that they had rebooked me on the 6:45 flight the next morning. I took a deep breath and told her that I had been traveling for the last 26 hours and had three kids with me, one of whom was sick. She smiled that "sorry about your luck" smile and said there was nothing that she could do. I asked her about the Dayton flight, and to my relief there were open seats. We couldn't all sit together, but Aleena and I could sit together and Jacob and Nalin were in the row in front of us. I was so relieved to get seats on the Dayton flight. We wouldn't get into Dayton until midnight, but I really didn't want to sleep in the airport or try to get a hotel room. I overheard someone later complaining that United was only giving out discounts for the hotel, and not giving free rooms. I had briefly considered trying to drive if the only other option was waiting until the next morning, but I was so exhausted and my driver's license had expired, so I didn't know if I would even be able to rent a car.

After getting booked on the flight, I had to get a hold of my parents to let them know the change of plans. I didn't have a cell phone, so I had to use the airport pay phones. My first attemts to call my parents and my brother were unsuccessful. Finally, I was able to get in touch with my friend Dave by calling collect. Dave was able to get in touch with my parents.

The flight to Dayton was pretty uneventful. The plane was a small jet with thirteen or so rows with two seats on each side of the aisle. Aleena and I sat in the last row, and Jacob and Nalin were each in a window seat in the row in front of us. The aisle seats next to them were each occupied by very large men. They each probably took up a third of the kids seats. Fortunately the kids are small and it didn't matter much.

Mom and dad met us at the Dayton airport. As a final twist, while there had not been room for us on any flights to Cincinnati, there was room for our luggage. While we made our way home that night, our luggage didn't make it back until the next day. Fortunately it was delivered earlier the next afternoon.

It was a long trip, and I was happy to be back.