Day One

I’m half way to my destination as I type this post. Currently, I am at Detroit Airport in US. The day started early for me. With a 0600 departure to Tokyo, my parents and I headed to the airport at around 0400. Check-in security was very tight with strict limitation to baggage weight. I had to do some last minute packing just to comply with the limitation.
NW20 SIN-NRT
My first time trying out an American carrier and my first experience onboard wasn’t a good one. As passengers were boarding the plane, the stewards and stewardesses were engaged in personal conversation and left the passengers to find their seats for themselves. After my last trip to Australia on business class, seating back in economy felt a little awkward. Overall, the flight was reasonable. The food was average but the video-on-demand personal tv helped pass the time on the ~7 hours flight. I watched KungFu Panda and Meet the Robinsons which I found to be really good animation movies.
Narita Airport
With an hour to kill before my next killer flight, I wandered around the airport. Wanted to try some food but was rather full after two meals onboard the plane. The airport felt a little run down. Being in Japan, the queues were very short and the staff very efficient and friendly. Looking at the departure board, I realized that the flight was pushed forward to 1555 instead of the planned 1615. I thinking that the early departure will give me extra time to clear customs in the US, I patiently waited for the departure.
NW12 NRT-DTW
Boarding started at 1530 and everybody was ready by the 1555 departure time. The departure time came and went and I realized that something wasn’t right. True enough, the announcement was made soon after that the plane had some mechanical faulty and we had to be transferred to another plane. We were told that the transfer would cause at least a 30 minutes delay. After settling down nicely into my seat, I had to pack up all my stuff and leave the plane and head for another gate. We waited for 30 minutes before we were allowed to board and by the time the plane took off, we were behind schedule by an hour.
The plane was a 747 and should be at least 15 years old. The seat didn’t have a personal tv screen and still had the old ash tray holder at each seat. The 11 hours flight was very monotonous with only my Ipod and book to serve as entertainment.
DTW
Arriving at the airport at 1630, I thought I could get to my connecting flight on time if I hurried. Unfortunately, the customs line was very slow. To my surprise, baggage for my flight was coming out to 2 different baggage claim belts. You had to look at 2 belts to spot your baggage. My 2 bags came out from the 2 different lines. At the transfer desk, I was informed that my flight had left and the airline had reassigned me on another flight. Instead of my initial 1720 flight, my new flight will be at 2115. I’m now sitting in a café having a meal and wasting my time by blogging.