So, on December 29, I arrived in North Platte on time for my flight from there to Denver. The plane in Denver apparently had some issues, so they finally swapped out another one and made it to LBF almost two hours late. No trouble for me as I was spending the night in Denver, but the Great Lakes employees worked overtime for several people making new arrangements so all would get to where they were going.
Security in NP was pretty tight due to the "Christmas incident" with the terrorist from Nigeria. All our carry on baggage was hand checked and we were all patted down. Didn't take long, since there were just about 10 passengers.
Flight to Denver was nice, just a little bouncing around. The hotel shuttle arrived just 15 minutes after I got there, and then I enjoyed a nice repast from Ruby Tuesday's. Fantastic ribs and Louisiana shrimp...yummmmm.
I had asked for a 1:30 am wake up call and the 2:30 shuttle, but since I was still fighting jet lag, I awoke at 12:30. Went downstairs early to check out and await my scheduled shuttle departure time, but the driver was there so I went early. Only to have to wait at the airport until 4:30 when United opened their stations. Huh? They open only an hour and a half before their first flight was to leave? Got through quickly, then faced a long line for security. Huh? The line moved about as quickly as I've ever seen it, so it took just 10 minutes.
Got to the gate with plenty of time for my Denver to San Francisco 6:05 flight. Which FINALLY departed about 9:30 due to a brake problem. They scavenged a part from another airplane, which then need to scavenge a part from the next airplane in line. I don't know when the scavenging stopped, I only know that I was happy to take off. I had talked to a gate agent and inquired about the 8:30 flight (which I normally take) to SFO, but it was fully booked.
Interestingly, the guy in the seat next to me was also traveling from Denver to SFO to Tokyo and on to Taipei! ALL on the same flights as me. Our pilot really tried to make up for lost time, and would have gotten us into SFO ten minutes earlier, but some unruly passenger on another plane caused that plane to be moved to the front of all other incoming flights. When we did finally make it to the gate, we didn't know if we would make our flight...so we grabbed our carry ons (I blocked people from getting in front of us...my good Asian elbowing techniques worked well) and we RAN for the international terminal. While on the run, I slowed enough to look at the departure screen and found out departing gate...97...almost at the end of the terminal. I had to slow, but Nick kept on running.
Huffing and puffing I reached the gate where the doors were still open...I was the last person on board. I am still amazed that we made it...I was envisioning another overnight stay in San Francisco.
After that drama, the rest of the trip was completely uneventful and I arrived in Taipei 20 minutes earlier than scheduled. Now the jet lag fight begins anew...
