Can my day get any worse?

Today I flew from Vancouver to Portland, to then make the flight to Tokyo before going to Nagoya.  That was relatively fine … the flight was good and I was talking to a man next to me who just happened to have lots of views about the economy and where it’s going.

Then when I reached Portland, I couldn’t find the international gates.  Nobody could tell me where the fight was, however, a cleaning person pointed to a large NWA plane and said “Try there”.

Well … “there” was a good kilometer away and I was carrying things that don’t like to be run with.  So I make the long trek over and then sign in.  But then another problem … I can’t be granted entry onto the plane.

NWA can’t grant people access to Japan unless that passenger has a flight out of the country, as well.  Allowing a passenger without return flight plans will result in some fines, and we wouldn’t want that.  But, after a half hour of the agents helping others, I was finally helped as they tried to find another country that I could fly to in a few weeks, which would then let me into Japan.  The ticket would have been refundable, so it would have worked quite well.

Big problem … the cheapest ticket was a meager $550, and I didn’t have that much on me.  I had to find a foreign exchange as well as an ATM.  Two ATM’s were down, and the foreign exchange in the secure area of the airport was closed.  I had to leave the secure area.

I finally get the money, but it’s too late.  The plane has left.

Now I’m stuck in Portland.  My bags are en route to Japan.  I have no home, and money is running low ….

What the heck do I do, now?