Today has been seemingly endless. In fact, at one point today, it was actually tomorrow. Yep, let that sink in for a while.
We awoke Thursday morning, packed and got ourselves ready for a couple days of travel. A rainy visit to Angkor Wat meant our shoes and clothes were wet and muddy and whatever we had tried to do with our hair was now completely gone. And this is how we'd begin our days of travel. (Oh, and I forgot to mention that our safe where the passports were kept wouldn't open until three people and forty five minutes later, the manager arrived with a key.)
We flew into Singapore and had about ten hours before our flight out toward the states. We had talked about a hotel, but the ones in Singapore are fairly expensive and our flight home was at 6am, meaning we'd need to be at the airport at 4am. The Singapore airport boasts all sorts of entertainment like a movie theater, a pool, several gardens and some lounges. So, we decided we would just go out into the city for a drink then enjoy the airport. (If you're a frequent flyer, you've probably already caught a couple problems with our plan that we should have also caught.)
Arrival went smoothly, got our bags, went through customs and then off to find the luggage storage. The information booth told us where the 24 hour storage room was, but then hit us with the bad news. We had exited the airport which meant we had left all of the cool entertainment things behind, and we couldn't check in until 3am. Meaning, we were stuck on public seating areas. Well, we'll just go enjoy some of Singapore for a few hours. Problem was, many things close in Singapore at 10 (including most airport restaurants) and it was about 9 with a thirty minute train ride into the city.
Luggage stored, TripAdvisor read, we purchased MRT tickets that took us toward My Awesome Cafe that was open until midnight. The MRT closed around 11, so we'd have to find another route back. We found the restaurant, a really fun, eclectic, hopping joint where we treated ourselves to tasty meals and fancy drinks (I had prosecco mixed with raspberry gin-yum!).
We left there about midnight, having zero desire to go sit in the airport, so we decided to see the city all lit up at night. Singapore is one of the safest places in the world, and we felt completely comfortable wandering by the harbor after midnight.
On our first days on this trip, which now seems like ages ago, we had enjoyed the Gardens by the Bay and the fancy man-made trees. We went back to see the trees all lit up at night. Wow, they were magical!
All of our wanderings led us to about 1:30am when we found a cab to get us back to the airport. We walked for a bit, knowing that sitting was going to take up the majority of our time over the next two days, then succumbed to sitting for a bit.
At 3am, luggage retrieved, we checked in to our flights. I had booked my DEN to BHM separately from the other flights, but I wanted to connect them so I didn't have to touch my luggage until Birmingham. The very kind lady behind the counter kept double checking with me that that flight, my fourth of the day was in fact on the same day. Yep, it was going to be a long day. Despite having booked our flights and chosen seats next to each other, something happened and on our longest leg of the flight, we had to sit separately. Perhaps fate was telling us that six weeks of 24/7 time together could use a small break.
We sleepily walked through customs, found our gate and colored some. What use was it to try to sleep at this point anyway?
Boarded our flight, no problem. We had about a seven hour flight to Tokyo that was uneventful and filled with sporadic short naps.
We had a three hour layover in Tokyo and were really pretty excited. Unfortunately, we found no sushi, but we did enjoy looking st the souvenirs and odd candy like wasabi kit kats. The toilets were quite fascinating, too!
On our ten hour flight to San Jose, we were separated, but both had window seats so thankfully we got to watch a gorgeous sunset (I'm watching another one right now as I type...).
I watched Gifted, then blubbered my way through (I'll pretend exhaustion had something to do with the many tears, but I'm not sure that's true) Forrest Gump which I had not seen in years then dozed and hummed along while watching the new Beauty and the Beast.
Landing in San Jose was exciting as it was US soil and our phones worked like we wanted them to. Then, came US customs. Rarely a pleasant nor smooth venture. We were near the back to the plane, meaning near the back of the line. We were given the chance to try a computer screening program that would allow us to bypass the line if we were approved. Jess was approved, I was not. A good forty minutes later, when our next flight was set to board in twenty minutes, and I'm only half way through the line, airport workers came looking for me and other Denver bound passengers and pushed us to the front of the line. Rushing to find Jess, grab our bags and go through customs, and of course this is the time that the customs officer and security officer wanted to be chatty. There was a little bit of running involved but we made it to our gate with time to spare.
The flight to Denver was short and uneventful, our eyes struggled to stay open. In Denver, we parted ways, thankful to be almost home, but also incredibly thankful to have had this travel adventure together. (And don't worry, we'll see each other in another week!) I had about three hours to kill in the Denver airport so I was looking forward to a nice burrito and a margarita, plus perhaps a nap. Jessica texted and said my bag was on the carousel. Hmmm... I could have gone to get it, rechecked it in and gone back through security, but I was afraid that may be pushing my time. No worries, I would go speak to the airline customer service and they could take care of it. Two hours later, hungry and getting anxious about my flight, I left the line hoping someone noticed my bag in lost luggage had a BHM sticker on it and maybe I'd see it at home. Grabbed a wrap and rushed toward my gate where I found another customer service desk with only one person waiting in line. I presented my problem and my bag is hopefully on board down below or will be on the next flight to BHM.
I always look for people I recognize when getting on a flight for Birmingham, after all, it's not that big of a city. I saw no one I knew, and yet, I felt these were my people. Accents, clothing items and warm personalities reminded me that I really do love my home state.
I'm on my flight now, watched a stunning sunset and will hopefully catch a few winks before landing at 11:59pm. Yep, July 14 can officially go down in history as the longest day of my life, not metaphorically but actually. It has been 37 hours long and I saw every moment of it, minus a few short dozes here and there. But you know what? I would do it again if it meant visiting some of the amazing places we got to see. You know, not tomorrow, but again, nevertheless.
No comments:
Post a Comment