SFC with 0 Paid Leave! ~ A Working Housewife's Frugal Training Part 13 (Legs 20 & 21 - Conditional Flight and 'Gen Nigiri' at Kaisen/Island Cuisine Gen)
Just when I thought the typhoon had passed, another tropical depression is hovering over the Nansei Islands. This is the troublesome part about summer trips to Okinawa.
Come to think of it, I was at Haneda Airport during the heavy snow in January, too. It's already been half a year; time really flies. As someone once said, when you're young, a year flies by like an arrow, but at my age, ten years fly by in a bundle, so half a year is just a blink of an eye.
I had been checking the wind conditions daily on Windy for my round trip to Ishigaki, but since there was no notification from ANA before I left in the morning, I was happily thinking, 'The wind is strong, but it's not a crosswind, so it'll fly—great!'
Just as I was about to leave the house for the airport, I got an email.
'Notice of Weather Investigation'
'Due to lightning'
L-l-lightning?!
Lightning was a blind spot; I had only been worried about the wind.
In the end, it became a conditional flight where, depending on the weather, returning to Haneda or landing at Naha Airport was a possibility. Yikes.
The return leg of this flight is the return leg of my previous Korea-Haneda-Ishigaki round trip. In other words, if I don't arrive in Ishigaki safely and return to Haneda, I won't be able to go to Korea. Crisis!
I have the return leg booked as ANA 90, the turnaround flight for ANA 89, so I assume it would be canceled if the outbound flight couldn't arrive, but... what will happen??
The most troublesome thing would be a change to Naha Airport. If that happens, I'm done for. What should I do...?
Ignoring my anxiety, the plane took off from Haneda Airport without incident.
The flight was smooth until halfway, then it started to be affected by air currents around Amami, causing some turbulence, but it managed to arrive safely at Ishigaki Airport. What a relief. It was only delayed by about 10 minutes.
Now, since the return leg is a turnaround flight, I'm boarding the same aircraft I just arrived on, but because the arrival was delayed, the departure of the return flight was initially delayed by 5 minutes, but there was another change, and it ended up being a 20-minute delay.
Since I unexpectedly had some time, I decided to have lunch at the airport arrival lobby. Ishigaki Airport's boarding waiting area is small, so if you know there's a delay, it's better to kill time outside.
I was worried because the security checkpoint deadline wasn't listed in the app, but since the baggage check-in deadline had been extended, I judged that the security checkpoint deadline had likely been extended as well.
Looking around to see what I could eat quickly,'Gen Nigiri' at 'Kaisen/Island Cuisine Gen', the sushi using island fish looked delicious. When I asked the staff how long it would take to serve the sushi, they said 5 minutes, so I ordered it.
The sushi was packed with island flavors like tuna, squid, parrotfish (probably), giant clam (likely), and sea grapes. The fish was well-marbled and had a nice texture—delicious sushi. I was impressed that the soy sauce was different from what I usually eat; it had a rich body and a slight sweetness. Is it like Kyushu soy sauce?
It was a luxurious lunch at 2,700 yen including beer. The price is a bit high, but for the brief moment I was staying on Ishigaki Island, I was glad to be able to enjoy the island's flavors.
Since I still had time, I wandered around the souvenir shops in the arrival lobby. There were lots of attractive gourmet items like Ishigaki beef hamburger steaks, craft beer, island shallots, and island bananas. Maybe I'll buy something to take home on my next visit.
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Leg 20 2026.6.6
ANA089 HND8:30-ISG11:30 (Delayed 11:40)
Leg 21 2026.6.6
ANA090 ISG12:15 (Delayed 12:40)-HND15:10 (Delayed)