Japan Meets Dallas TX

The hardest part of flying sometimes is something as simple as language. Being in the travel industry means coming across those that do not speak any English at all....period. There are a few routes that this is to be expected on. Dallas/Forth Worth is not one of them, unfortunately. We were going from Los Angeles to Dallas/Forth Worth and had a small load of passengers. Not even first class was full. It was was a long flight where we arrived at nearly midnight. The other flight attendant had family in the Dallas area and wasn't staying at the hotel with the rest of the crew. When we got off the aircraft there was a little Japanese man running around yelling at us in JAPANESE, which neither of us speak. We figured out that he was looking for baggage claim and since we walk through there to get to our hotel shuttle I escorted him there. He didn't understand the concept still of where his bag was going to come from. The pilots were still tip-toeing their way out of the airport behind me leaving me to manage on my own (they're always just a TON of help, HA!). I finally had found an airport employee to help assist him and wait with him for his bag. I felt good that I had helped him out or at least found someone that could assist him further so I could meet back up with my crew. Oh boy, I wasn't out the woods. He got his bag rather quickly and if only that hotel shuttle had been just 2 minutes earlier. He spotted me and made a bee-line for me and me only. I was the face he was associating help with. Me and me ALONE. He was looking for his ride. I still do not know if it was a hotel or someone personally. Everything in his bag was in Japanese. There was one single phone number and I tried calling it, until I realized that he was a digit short. I was falling short, too. I couldn't help him. There was my crew with additional passengers in the hotel shuttle waiting on me. Everyone was starring at us, just waiting to see how I was going to assist this man. I did the only thing I knew to do at the time. This was the last shuttle to the from the airport to the hotel and I didn't have a lot of options. I sent him back upstairs with the guy that assisted him before. I still feel guilty that I couldn't help him myself. I guess that comes with the territory. You're not ALWAYS going to be able to help. It's still frustrating for us though to not be able to manage small tasks like these on our own. I'm hoping he made his way to where he was going.