Davao, to Manila (15 hours), to Tokyo (earthquake), to HOME!

I'm sitting here in bundled in blankets, in my beautiful hometown: the cold, crisp, lovely Portland, OR.

It is 5:37 am, and having been up all night after tossing and turning out of jet-lagginess, I decided to update.

I think the past 3 days have been the longest and most eventful of my entire life. After sitting in the Manila airport for 15 hours (not recommended), I caught a flight to Tokyo.

I was scheduled for a 2 hour layover. Not too bad. Just enough time to people-watch all of the uber-stylish Japanese teenagers and wish I had their fashion sense before catching my long awaited flight home.

They started boarding the business class seats as I was sitting in front of the giant window-wall looking out on the airplane/runway. All of a sudden a giant ROARing sound slowly started building, and the window in front of me started vibrating.

Then shaking.

Then rippling and waving.

The ROAR turned into people screaming just as I said to the girls sitting next to me, "Are we having an earthquake?!"

Blank stares.

It's bizarre how one's mind can't really comprehend at first something so shocking and out of the blue. Something so totally beyond your control.

I jump up and say, "We need to get away from the windows!" and grab my carry-on and my guitar. People are scattering in all different directions. The girls disappear into the crowd.

I think to myself "Just get under a doorway!"And then freeze when I realize: there are no doorways. Business men are dropping their suitcases and looking around frantically as they too, presumably, seek the coveted earthquake-proof doorpost.

It's bizarre how your own helplessness causes you do do interesting things, like stand frozen as the earth shifts under your feet,

and then literally laugh out loud as you say "Oh my god! Oh my god!" over and over. That's what I did next. Calm, cool, and collected, I was not.

I don't think I would have survived on the show LOST.

It felt like someone had picked up the Tokyo Narita Airport and was now shaking it like a snow globe. The ceiling cracked and pieces start falling down like gritty snow.

People are running, yelling, screaming.

I finally got my wits about me and forced my shaking legs to crawl under the seats in the terminal like I saw other people trying to do. I don't know why, I just didn't know what else to do and standing out in the open felt really vulnerable.

I hunker down next to a mid-30's Japanese woman and, I say out loud to her while laughing "oh my god!" and she says, "oh my god!" back to me.

Then (interesting again) I notice that she's wearing really cute boots. God forgive me for being so shallow as to notice a woman's cute boots in the middle of one of the biggest earthquakes in history.

The earth is roaring, lights on the ceiling are clinking and threatening to fall, the airplanes outside are swaying back and forth like giant rubber duckies in bath water. Glass breaks, ceiling tiles are still snowing all around...

Then slowly the shaking subsides, and we all stare at each other, whispering "oh my god," and force our shakey legs to stand. A very pregnant woman is trying to calm her very pale spouse.

1 minute later the t.v. monitors show live news-feed of the damage all around Tokyo. Buildings on fire, rubble.

The airport starts moving again only this time it feels like we are on a boat. Aftershock. I sit down in the ceiling snow on the chairs feeling a little sea-sick. People are crowding around the t.v. monitors.

Some security guards are frantically running through the airport yelling loudly in Japanese.

Can I just go HOME already??...

They continue to board our plane. We all get settled and buckled. 15 minutes later another earthquake hits. The plane starts it's swaying again like in really bad turbulence, only we are on the ground. People start saying "Not again!" and "Can we just get out of here?!" and the captain gets on the intercom and says, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. This is the safest place to be. Airplanes are made to withstand this kind of motion." And we all grip the seat murmuring our agreement.

So we sit.

Captain says, "Ladies and gentlemen, the ground crew is inspecting the runways to see if it is safe to take off. I think the best thing to do at this time is to hang tight. This is the safest place to be and if we were to get off the plane right now, we would just have to go through security and customs and immigration all over again. I will keep you updated on any new information."

We murmur our agreement.

And we sit. The stewardesses are really nice and they are placating us with lots of peanuts and drinks.

The guy next to me checking his i-phone just announces that a tsunami has hit the coast of Japan.

Captain says, "Folks, this is your captain. I've just gotten word that a tsunami has hit. The airport has been evacuated and as of right now the city of Tokyo has shut down., There is no transportation anywhere. No trains, the highways are shut down...we aren't sure at this time if we are going to be able to take off. The manager of the airport is coming to speak with me and I will keep you updated."

And we sit. It starts pouring down rain and thundering outside.

Throughout the plane people are starting to get a little panicky: "where will we go if we are evacuated? Are we going to just have to stand outside? What will we eat? If we are stuck in the airport there will be no food!"

I roll my eyes and think, "give me a break dude. You will miss like 2 meals. It's not going to kill you."

3 hours later: Captain says, "Folks, it looks like we are going to have to evacuate. Now, there is no security in the airport anymore, and you can just imagine that they aren't going to let us just walk through the airport with no security. We are going to have to go through the basement of the airport. I will keep you posted on how this is going to happen."

And we wait.

The stewardesses decide to give us our dinner. I decide I'm eating this sugary airplane food and I'm enjoying it! I was just in an 8.9 earthquake and I'm still alive! Life is too short to not enjoy this carrot cake!

After 4 hours and 3 aftershocks sitting on this runway, Captain says, "Folks, looks like 2 lanes have been opened and we are going to catch one of them. Please fasten your seatbelts and make sure your seat and tray is in an upright and locked position. We are going to taxi out and make our way to Portland, OR."

A GIANT collective cheer! goes up in the air.

Another collective cheer! as we pull up into the air. Then a strained silence as we all crane to look out the wondows and see NOTHING on the freeways below, and then a jumble of tiny carlights in a big pile.

I comment to the guy next to me that we are SO freaking lucky to have boarded the plane when we did. 5 minutes later and we would be with all those people stranded outside the airport. Who knows how long they are going to be stuck here in Tokyo? Who knows if there will be more aftershocks?

He says, "I feel bad...but I'm just too happy that we are on this plane." I agree.

After 9 long hours I land at PDX and have NEVER been so absolutely freaking happy to see Portland in my entire life. I am thrilled to see the guards, thrilled to see the homeland security guys. I'm chatting it up and smiling at everyone I see.

I step outside to taxi to the international terminal and for the first time in 7 months breathe in deep as the crisp, CLEAN, fresh, cold NW air fills my lungs. I see Mount Hood and the Columbia River. I think I'm going to cry.

I walk into the terminal and see a news crew, and see my 3 wonderful friends waiting to pick me up holding a giant gift basket with local beer, chocolate, coffee, and other goodies. I totally start crying when I see them and there are tons of hugs all around. I had NO phone on me this whole time and I had no way to contact them. They weren't even sure I was gonna be on the flight!

I managed to dodge the news crew. Here's the story they did.

My friend Erin took me to Por Que No and we ate tacos and drank sangria outside in the cold air and warm sun. I'm still processing everything but man, it's so good to be home.