The trip that almost wasn't

Who would have guessed the hardest, most stressful part of a 5000+ mile trip to a foreign land would be getting from Portland to Seattle? The day started off just fine. We left home at 9:30am, got to the airport, checked my bag and said our goodbyes. I was at my gate as the last of the 10 :30am flight was boarding. (The thought crossed my mind to see if there were any seats left but I didn't ) So I settled into wait for the 11:30am--boarding at 11:00. The plane ARRIVED at 11:40am. I was doing math in my head...my Seattle flight boarded at 1:30pm for a 2:00 take off. We were all quickly hustled onto the plane where we sat. And sat....and sat...watching mechanics go in and out of the cockpit--never a good sign!

Finally at about 12:20pm they called 9 of us who had international connecting flights, to get off the plane and get boarding passes for the 12:30pm flight one gate over. I heard them saying they would be de-planing the rest of the passengers as well. They had to transfer all the luggage so our new flight didn't take off until around 1:10pm. (By this time I had visions of just showing up at work the next day having missed my flight.) I was seated next to a pilot who was on a hop to position for the next day's flight and he was very kind in trying to help me figure out the best way to get through the airport and to reach my flight. We landed in Seattle at 1:40pm and I ran, literally, through long corridors to get to the train to go out to the S gates for international flights. I have no idea what time it was when I actually got to the counter of my flight but the plane was still there and they reprinted my boarding pass and let me on. I was the last one to board. I know it had to be about 2:00pm. My hour and 40 minute layover had turned into a heart-pounding race to the wire. I had planned to eat lunch, get a bottle of water, and relax. Instead I boarded the plane sweating, shaking, and gasping for breath. But I made it on. Ironically we sat there for another half hour...I think because they were waiting for my luggage (I hoped so at the time anyway
The flight to Tokyo was long and uneventful. They made up the time lost and we landed right on schedule. When the seatbelt sign turned off, I jumped up and made it out the door quickly, got to immigration before the crowds arrived and headed down to see if my bag made it. I waited about a minute and there it was. Customs waved me through. I found my cell phone rental booth, called Triss and headed to buy my rail pass. Just a bit of a wait there and I was booked on the Narita Express that was leaving in 15 mins. Got to Tokyo station about an hour later and found my way to the Shinkansen platform for my trip to Sendai. Saw two other trains leave for Sendai but I was booked on the Hayate Super Express...it only stopped at two other places before speeding it's way to Sendai. By 9:30pm I had met up with Tristan and we were making the 15 min walk to his apartment. Even though I was pretty exhausted we ended up staying up until 11:00pm talking. So while not a great start, it did make the rest of the trip getting here seem like a piece of cake.