Arriving at our first short stop in Osaka, from Taipei en route to Jacksonville, Florida, we encountered some pleasant trouble.
Profusely apologizing, our Japanese hosts informed us of a terrible mistake that has been made. There's been an overbooking. They asked if we could possibly help them out by flying first class on the next flight out, via a different route, to our final destinaton.
This would include flying first class via Honolulu and Atlanta, international telephone access, meals, free visas and guidance to visit the city of Osaka while we wait for our flight. To further compensate us for emotional stress (yeah!), we were given free tickets to the value of a trip to Europe and back.
We found it within ourselves to help these poor people out and gracefully accepted their offer and profound apologies...
Osaka was an eye-opener to the efficiency of the Japanese people. It was really hard adapting to the poor American customer service and inefficiency after Osaka and our time in Taiwan.
We are now in Palm Coast with Sarah's parents and young siblings, and it is good to be home. (We're sleeping on Western-style "soft" matresses and after Taiwan, it is absolutely killing our backs. I'm still sleeping on the floor on occassion! In the mornings I have to rub out the knots on Sarah's back.)
Izandla ziyagezandla! (A Zulu proverb meaning "hands wash each other".)
Will be keeping you up to date.
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