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Our trip started out badly. Our 6:00PM flight out of Osaka, Japan to Taipei was
cancelled due to an aircraft engine problem, and we were going to have to spend the night in
the Osaka airport! Northwest Airlines told us no hotels were available, so they broke out
these biandang (boxed meals), along with
a bottle of water, and passed them out to all
300+ passengers.
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The poor gate agents huddled in fear as they had to tell the crowd of 300+
disgruntled passengers that they would have to spend the night sleeping in the airport, that no
hotels were available in Osaka. Besides the food, they gave us all 5 minute AT&T international
phone cards which we could use to call those waiting to pick us up in Taipei to alert them of
the delay.
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So they passed out blankets and tooth
brushes and tooth paste and told us to find any spot anywhere in the airport and settle in.
We were to return to the Northwest ticket counter at 8:00AM the next morning to be booked on
other flights to Taipei. So, after picking up all of our checked baggage, we settled in for a long,
pretty much sleepless night, right across from the Northwest ticket counter.
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The following morning, the line at the Northwest ticket counter formed early.
But once the ticket agents showed up, the line broke down and everyone just pushed their way up
to the counter, wanting to get their new flight assignments as soon as possible.
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Included in our 'sorry you were delayed' package from Northwest Airlines
were a couple of free breakfast vouchers which we used in one of the airport restaurants. Additionally,
we each received over $250 of free travel vouchers. At the time, we weren't that excited about it,
feeling so tired and raunchy, but looking back now, it wasn't too bad of a deal.
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We got rebooked on a Japan Airlines flight from Osaka to Taipei
at 1:15PM Sunday, so we walked around the airport trying to pass the time. I discovered that
the departure terminals had free Internet access, so I sat down to send some e-mails
to friends telling them of our plight.
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A colorful shop in the Oska airport. We bought some Japanese candy to bring
back to Taiwan for the family.
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After a long ride from the airport in Taipei to Mei-O's younger brother Mingshun's
house in Taiping in central Taiwan (we were picked up by Mei-O's older brother Mingqi and his wife),
the first order of business was handing out all the gifts we brought. Note the bag of
Snickers on the table.
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