On a missed connection-

February 25, 2015

On a missed connection-

Thursday I left Charlotte en-route to Seoul via two connection flights in Chicago and Tokyo. After paying $400 for a checked bag 20pds overweight, I thought to myself: this is the worst that can happen--I was right, and wrong in the same. Three hours later, I landed in Chicago and ran to my next gate to board the boeing 747 only to wait two hours at the gate because of mechanical issues--something about the air conditioner, one of the four radios and a cylinder in the plane--things no one wants to hear about the plane they are to take a 13 hour flight on. I put on headphones and waited; it's all you can do in moments like those.

When the plane finally took off, I knew there was no way I'd make it in time for my connection flight out of Tokyo the next day, so I planned to contact my Japanese friend to see if she'd like to meetup. 13 hours in the air, flying over oceans I have yet to swim in and countries I had only seen in photos and in my dreams--it still didn't sink in that I was moving across the world...

I arrived in Tokyo at 7:00pm Friday, February 20th. My connection flight to Seoul had taken off at 6:30pm. In a crowded lobby I stood, waiting to hear my name to receive information from the airline; they arranged a hotel and shuttle for all who missed connection flights. So much of traveling long distance is unpredictable, and this time was no different. Each second was out of my reach, so much that I had to place blind trust in an airline that was the cause of the current disorder in my life. I was forced to trust that which I could not trust...And so, I did?

Standing in arrivals with others awaiting the same fate as I was an odd feeling. There were four of us beside each other, and it was obvious each spoke English. Naturally we bonded over our mutual disdain for the airline. The truth is: we had absolutely no idea what was in store for us those next two days. It was humanly impossible to comprehend how the events would unfold. I'd say the rest is history, but that would be a lie. We became four strangers connected by a missed connection.

It was Bree's first plane ride ever, and Jarred's (behind me) second time abroad. John (behind Bree) and I were more familiar with travel. Bree and I were going to Seoul to teach, and the J's, to serve in the military. An eclectic bunch we were, but perfect for each other nonetheless.

After checking into our hotel rooms for the night, then a two-hour bus ride back to Nartia airport the next morning, we grew inseparable. None of us had been to Asia, yet we all had thought about what it would be like to visit Japan. How lucky we were to have each other to share our first experience in the country.

The airline provided us with meal vouchers all day, so we ate like royalty.

At one point I was so caught in the magic of all that had taken place, I snapped this photo.

"We're our own little family."

For the rest of our time together we referred to each other as such. And we left no one behind. For the next day and a half we would do everything together. We went from strangers to pseudo-kin almost instantaneously.

At one point the jet lag started to hit us. We had spent the entire day in the Tokyo airport (we arrived at 6am) and were sent all over to different airlines to place our names on standby lists. A situation that was naturally frustrating turned us into friends. In so many ways our worse nightmare became our joy.

Hours later, past the point of exhaustion, we decided to take our fate into our own hands. We went to the airline and told them to put us on the next guaranteed flight. The adventure continued as we were directed to a shuttle bus to take us to another airport in Tokyo only to fly an hour to the island of Saporro to stay at another hotel and then fly to Seoul from Saporro's airport the next morning.

"We'll take it."

On the shuttle to the next airport and the flight to Saporro, Jarred and I shared life stories and all that led us to the moment of our meeting. J is from Illinois and I, North Carolina, but we met on the other side of the planet. One missed connection, connected us. Oh the poetry of life...

On the flight to Seoul from Saporro we sat beside each other again, and at that point in history it felt like we were in fact life long friends. J looked at me as the plane was about to land.

"It feels like I've known you for months and its only been two days. It feels like I've known Bree for months too. It's crazy how all of this happened."

It was in that moment in time I knew why all of this happened. I knew why the plane had mechanical issues and why I missed that connection and why I stood where I did in that crowded arrivals section of Narita airport and why our hotel rooms were on the same floor and why--

I knew why it all happened. Our lives unraveled in the unpredictability of traveling across a vast ocean. And now--now there exists an invisible thread which connects the four of us. Now I have Bree who is also teaching in Korea for one year, and I have the two J's who will be here for a few weeks. But forever we will have that missed connection in Tokyo and the magic that is the story of our two days stuck in Japan.