Weather is a pain. (天気はイヤ。)

Well, dear readers, this is it. By the time you read this, I should be an hour in the air on the way to Honolulu, a good portion of my stress alleviated (hopefully) and all my bags with me.

Sure, one is overweight, one is pushing the limit, and both my carry-ons may conspire to break my back, but somehow, I'll manage.

...and hopefully Typhoon #4 won't slow me down.

Yes, that's right, the weather itself is plotting against me.

And lucky me, according to predictions, it's going to be right smack-dab over central Japan when I'm supposed to be landing. And, you know, riding a ferry for forty-five minutes across a bay.

Could I be any luckier?

According to my boss, there are three possibilities:

1) My plane gets diverted, and I'm stuck in some other airport waiting for the airline to get me to Chubu International at a later time, with my bags god knows where.

2) I get to Chubu, but the ferries are canceled, leaving me to either (a) blow my money on a hotel for the night, or (b) blow my money on a train to Matsusaka, which would also involve me hauling all of my luggage through train stations and goodness knows how many train-changes.

3) The typhoon is mild/the typhoon misses the Chubu/Kinki area, and everything is just dandy.

We all know which one I hope happens, and yet we also all know which one I think is going to happen.

I'm going to come out of this with a lot less money than I had originally expected. Hotels are expensive. So much for eating in that first month...

It sort of sucks, being a cynic.

And then there's the fact that my paranoia has presented me with the possibility that the typhoon takes hold of our plane, tosses us around a bit before tossing us unceremoniously into the Pacific Ocean, never to be heard from again.

...this is not a good thing for my mother to be reading as I'm in the air, let me tell you.

UPDATE- Hooray for me and for everyone flying into Chubu/Narita/KIX in the next few days! (And, really, everyone in Japan from Kanto downwards who now won't have to worry quite so much about their shoji screens.) It looks like Typhoon #4 took my advice and decided to skip Japan in favor of a bit more sightseeing in Korea. Atta boy, I knew you wouldn't let me down!

Sorry about the link being in Japanese; but you can still see the updated "projected path," which is really the important bit. Fah to you, Yoimuri Shinbun, and your too-early reporting! Fah I say!

Ahem.

It also sucks that Hawaiian Airlines won't let me check in online for my flight tomorrow morning. (Yes, yes, time travel, I'm writing this on Tuesday, blah blah.)

Why? I couldn't tell you. I can tell you what the internet told me:

Specialized assistance is required, please check-in with an agent at the Hawaiian Airlines Airport Ticket Counter.

And, for those visual learners among you:

I like how it tells me afterward that I can check in up to 24 hours in advance.Why lie to my face, HAL? Why not just accept it and tell me "no, you're not doing it, so sad, bye bye"? False hope does not good customer service make.

...yea. This better damn well be something to do with them checking my bags all the way through to Chubu, otherwise there will be hell to pay. Especially because you get a discount for paying your checked-bag fees online.

Oh, I will be pissed if they make me pay the airport fee when they specifically did not allow me to use the online check-in.

Especially since (a) they shouldn't be charging me for bags in the first place, since I'm technically taking an international journey, and (b) there are already going to be some overweight fees involved that I'm not too pleased about.

So, remember how I was so angry with HAL for making me pay for my bags earlier? How I declared that I would do my darnedest never to employ their services again?

Well, you know, I'm tempted to start a campaign against them now, because this is bloody ridiculous.

Then again, maybe it's all Expedia's fault.

Perhaps this what I get for cheap deals and easy booking.

Perhaps expensive baggage fees, inconvenience, and a general lack of help from the actual airlines is what every Expedia customer must inevitably go through as recompense for their love of a bargain.

...I really don't like that idea, guys, and I don't mind telling you. Being punished for my frugal nature is not something that I think should happen in a fair and just universe.

Yes, yes, I know it's not a fair and just universe, but let me dream.


Well, hopefully, dear readers, I'll be updating again from the other side of the Pacific, from my new home in Matsusaka... and not from a hotel in Chubu, fit to burst with frustration and anger and scraping the bottom of my monetary reserves. Or from Narita airport, waiting dejectedly for the next flight to Chubu, more bag fees imminent...


Yea. I hope it's from the house. (Come on, Typhoon-san, let the JMA be right!)


This is Edo, signing off wondering if this is a bad omen for the beginning of her adult life.


PS- I told you this would get more interesting once moved. I'm only in the air and look at all the drama we have already! Be prepared for a little more pop culture next post though; I expect you to be on the edges of your respective seats, music fans!

(Though, uh, don't be too upset if it's a little late. I'm moving across the ocean and starting a new job, for goodness sake!)