Family Spent $11K To Leave Japan

A Virginia family that was in a high-rise in Japan when the earthquake hit last week spent thousands of dollars to get home, but they're getting some of that money back.

“It was a terrifying experience,” Jean Edwards said. “I looked at my colleague and he looked at me and he reached out and grabbed my hand. We held hands and I looked at him. I thought we’re going to die.”

For the past 15 years, Edwards, a patent attorney, has visited Tokyo to meet with her clients. Last week, she decided to bring her son, Max. But on Friday when the massive earthquake hit, she was stuck at an office building in the middle of a meeting, and the family was separated.

“The building was swaying so much I felt like we were going to slide out the windows,” Edwards said. "It actually tilted and I thought the conference table was going to slide out with me with it.”

Once everything calmed down, Edwards scrambled to find her son, who was waiting it out back in the hotel stairway with the rest of the guests.

That was just the beginning of their travel nightmare.

More