The Trip - A Story in Four Parts

Part 1: Pre-departure Ponderings

I don't want to waste my battery before the longest leg of the trip but I am brimming with emotions so I'm just going to jot down a few things.

1. Mom held together surprisingly well though I thing she might lose it when she gets home and sees Rosie.

2. I am incredibly excited; the kind of excited that quickly rotates me through stupid grins, unprovoked giggles and choking back tears.

3. The choking back tears comes when I think of mom. I hate making her sad. I hate it but I know I have to live my life. It breaks my heart to think of her alone. But I won't be like my Memaw who spent 20 years doing nothing but caring for her mother. I know it is so noble and selfless but she missed so much. I won't let that be me. I tell myself that mom will get used to my being gone. I know that if I'm happy at least part of her is happy for me.

4.When airport personell asked my final destination I was excited to tell them and really proud when they called me adventurous. Adventurous! That's a word I like to be called. What is the opposite of adventurous? Nothing comes to me right now but whatever the word is, that's what my life is about avoiding. Maybe static versus dynamic are good opposites. I cannot be static. I must be dynamic.

Part 2: The LAX connection

Take note: the more electronics you pack in your bag, the more likely you are to be tagged by security.

After watching Behind Enemy Lines during the flight (one of the good movies Owen Wilson did before the downward spiral) my neighbor struck up a conversation. He traveled to Asia frequently for business. He gave me some really great pointers. He also said he was envious of the adventure I was having. We all know how much I loved to hear that! I was feeling pretty good when I stepped off the plane.

My ticket to Taipai didn't list a gate so I sought out the information board. Under the 'Gate' column, it read "TBIT". I'm sorry, what? Everything else had something very recognizable like A4 or C20. But nooo, mine is some kind of acronym. I sought out an employee who told me it's Tom Bradley International Terminal. Ohhhhh. So I made the short walk to the separate building and got into yet another security line.

Let me point out that your ability to move through security depends greatly on how tired you are. I was very tired. I laid all my things on the belt and stepped to the guard. "Shoes," she says. Oh right. I take those off and get back in line. She then points to the rectagle shape in the middle of my shirt and asked, "What's that?" (Again, I was really tired.) Instead of saying that it was my travel pouch, I raised my shirt to show her. She laughed and said, "You don't have to show me. Just tell me." She informs me that I can take it off and run it through the belt or get patted down. My choice. Well, since the guard hadn't even bought me a drink yet, I certainly wasn't letting her pat me down. Finally, I walked past the guard just in time to see a large security man stop the xray belt and pick up a bag. Yup. It's mine. He told me he was going to open it. Oh, he opened it alright. Then he took out EVERYTHING. Really, sir? I have a flight to catch! He goes through all of it and I try not to look panicked because I know it will be read as suspicion instead of fear of missing my flight. (At least, in my over-zealous imagination that's what I'm thinking.)

Anywho, I was finally given all my possessions back and allowed to repack them. I checked the clock and walked quickly toward my gate. The currency conversion station caught my eye. Did I have enough time? Maybe. I wasn't sure how much farther it was to the terminal. While I debated this, they called my name overhead and told me to report to the terminal. Oh god. Was it because of the security check? Were they going to tell me my ticket was not good because American Airlines issued it to me instead of China International? I'm sure if I hadn't been so incredibly tired this wouldn't seem to hold such potential for disaster as it did in that moment.

I arrived, panting, at the terminal to find all they wanted to do was give me a different boarding pass that has my gate printed on it. Now? Now they wanted to let me know what my gate was?

As they're handing me my pointless, after-the-fact, tree killing, new ticket, they started announcing that the flight had been delayed. Of course it had. I broke a sweat getting there so I could wait longer. I guess it really didn't matter. I had a six hour layover in Taipai. Anything that would take away from that was for the best.

So now the boarding has begun. I'll give you an update in Taipai. I very much hope my update is something to the effect of, "Slept 10 hours straight. Don't remember a thing!."

Part 3: 5 Hours in Taipai

I'm going to be hungry for the next 365 days. I'm stuck in the airport and I don't recognize any of the food on the menu. I know, I know. I need to put on my big girl panties and start trying new stuff. I'll start tomorrow. Ha! I guess I'll start tonight if I plan on eating any dinner! Haha! I can't believe I've gotten myself into this.

I packed my electrical converter kit so I could charge my computer in the airport. Well, I just went through a rather complicated process of connecting the computer to the power cord and the power cord to the '3 to 2' plug and the '3 to 2' plug to the converter and the converter to the adaptor and the adaptor to the outlet. It didn't work. Who knows what went wrong. Eiether way, the end result is that I won't have my computer much longer. I guess that's alright. My e-reader and iPod are pretty well charged.

I slept for less than half of my 14 hour flight. That was much less than I had hoped for. They served dinner the moment we were at altitude. I was starving so I held my eyelids open long enough to scarf it down.

I was feeling pretty lucky about my seating. It was on the isle in the middle set of seats - very front row. Just as I was patting myself on the back for this accomplishment I put no effort into, I started to realize the faults. The primary difficulty was the lack of a seat in front of me, i.e. no place to stow my bag. Then the couple next to be sat down with a tiny baby. Then the flight attendant proceeded to attach a basinet to the wall in front of us. The basket attached directly to the wall directly in fromt of me - so much for all that space gained by being in the front row. Of course, the baby was still nursing so the mother was throwing a blanket over herself every hour. I know it's an unavoidable law of nature but I'd really rather that law be carried out further away from me. The final challenge was that the reading lights were over the head of the mother and infant. I couldn't turn it on without blinding the baby. Stupid Sony eReader with no back light!!!

The only other challenge was my own fault. There were screens on the walls in front of my row. I spent the majority of the flight assuming they didn't work so I wasn't going to get to watch any movies. Only in hour 10 did I realize that I had my own screen tucked into the arm of my seat. Arrrrrghghghgh! (I was torn about sharing this story because on the one hand, it's funny and on the other hand, I look like a complete moron!!)

So here I am in the terminal with 4 and half hours to go. I'm feeling rather cranky but I think that's reasonable. I'm very much looking forward to my hotel this evening. Until then, at least the terminal is lit so I can use my e-reader!

Part 4: Arrival

I'm here. I'm exhausted. Goodnight.