I think I get most of my stress from my mom. Honestly, she worries about everything. Being in my hometown the last couple days couldn’t have been more traumatic; racking up a total of 4 hours of sleep, driving at least 600 miles, my mom ceaselessly nagging and yelling at me, and my long list of things to do (visas, appointments, packing). These two days were definitely eventful. I didn’t even have time to give my sister a real goodbye. I had to bombard her at work (she is a server too!), and steal her away from her tables to give her a hug goodbye.
After my mom bothered my dad and me for being slow and late all the time, we finally took off for the San Francisco airport. My mom is great with time-management. Though this concept is mostly broadcasted by her own self, I’ll admit, she is never late for anything. But it’s a characteristic I both love and hate. When my sister and I were little, my mom would make sure we were on time for everything. But on time did not mean on the dot or 5 minutes early. No, it meant at least 45 minutes early. Once we got to the airport four hours before take-off because she said that we were going to be late. Note: This was not an international flight. We couldn’t even get into the terminal since it was 6 in the morning and everything was still closed (even the security gate!). My sister and I were upset since we sat there and waited three hours and twenty minutes until we boarded our plane. This has happened a lot for our volleyball practices or tournaments, in which we would be sitting outside the gym in the cold desperately waiting for the doors to open.
After such a stressful month, I decided to ignore all my mother’s worries. I just assumed that if I were to mess up so early on the trip to be able to miss my plane, I really wasn’t meant to go traveling anywhere by myself. We got to the airport and I checked in my jam-packed bags. I was really hoping to travel light this trip. But now that I will be experiencing two seasons (winter and summer), I had to pack a lot more than expected. One bag had all of my Thailand gear (books, teaching material/supplies, twenty-something skirts, diarrheal medicine, and a whole lot of insect repellent). The other bag had my winter gear (for Japan, Korea, and China). Winter clothes tend to be pretty bulky too. I just barely fit everything into my two bags and barely made the weight limit for both luggage. I can’t believe I’ll be trucking along with all of this for the next couple months. For my own physical well-being, I think I’m going to try to arrange a trade off with some of my family members in Taiwan since I won’t need my winter clothes in Thailand.
I then said my goodbyes. I said goodbye to my mom, who still was trying to convince me to not go. I tried saying goodbye to my dad, who was relentlessly coaching me about converters and computer backup systems even after passing through the security check. After giving my last goodbyes, I walked towards my gate. Then I cried.
Originally, my flight was supposed to fly to Taiwan and then immediately to Bangkok, Thailand. With the recent change, my flight now goes to Taiwan and then I connect with another flight to Narita, Japan. My flight to Taiwan was actually pretty nice. We had movie screens in front of each seat, blankets and pillows, and pretty good food. I didn’t take advantage of all the amenities since I was exhausted from the preceding months. So I slept most of the flight. Surprisingly, there weren’t any crying babies on this trip. The sound of crying babies are usually the typical background melody I’m stuck with when flying anywhere.
Person Highlight
My flight companion is named Brett, who was actually supposed to be on the same flight route as me until I changed my path to Japan. Brett is a twenty-eight year old man who resides in Maui, Hawaii. He used to live in Wyoming before he picked up a career in whale watching in the Pacific Ocean. He now works as a tour guide for whale watching tours in both Hawaii and Alaska. He is traveling to Southern Thailand, Ko Phi Phi , to hang out with friends and participate in water sports (not the sexual activity). He has never been to Thailand and is going to country on a whim. He is planning on staying until December. We exchanged contact information so hopefully I’ll be able to meet up with him sometime during my trip. So maybe we’ll hear more about his life later on.
After getting off the plane in Taiwan, I found my next gate and sat down. After going through security and obtaining my next plane ticket, I realized I already left something behind. I brought along one of those airplane pillows that I’m usually embarrassed to carry around since it’s rather indulgent. It does work though. I will be taking lots of plane flights within the next couple weeks and months so I thought I should try to maintain the nerves and muscles in my neck as much as possible. But I left it on the plane. Before even taking a step on foreign soil, I have already lost something on this trip. This is definitely something I’m prone to do, losing things. If I were to have a super power, one of the top ones I would choose from is the ability to find everything I’ve lost in the past, present, and future. That power and the power to projectile vomiting on command, which is something my friend Chris and I wished we were able to do when customers at our restaurant were annoying us. Usually I would stress out about losing anything but I’m trying to have a new mentality—especially when traveling for 7 months. I decided that if I lose something, I wasn’t meant to have it on this trip. This attitude will help ease my mind as I will probably lose a lot. Though, I will not utilize this same outlook when it comes to my passport. My passport would be a devastating thing to lose overseas.
Since it was about 6 in the morning, I was the only person in the airport for a long while. It was a bit lonely but I made myself at home. I found the only plug in the area and sat down on the ground with my belongings scattered around me. I think people found me rather odd, sitting on the ground and all. I used this time to write and observe my surroundings. I got on my next plane and slept majority of the time. I think I might have defeated jet-lag!
No comments:
Post a Comment