Onward!

I finally went to the clinic to get my travel shots the week before I left. With the slight sting of the first injection penetrating my skin, it hit me. This was no dream and I really was leaving the States.

Though I wasn’t teary on the outside, not even when saying goodbye to Shajia, my sister, or my good friend, Raji, who’d come with her sons to see me off at the airport, I missed them and everyone who I wished was there but couldn’t make it. You know who you are.

Even during my flights, I was too busy concentrating on what my next step would be (where I should go, what I should do, should I buy a water bottle now or refill the one I have or would that be a waste because I have to chuck it before going through a security checkpoint) to enjoy the journey.

I left at just past 7 p.m. Wednesday afternoon, arrived at about 8 p.m. in Minneapolis and had an hour to catch my next flight to Los Angeles. While in L.A., I had to exit the airport entirely and check back in again through their international terminal, another long process. It’s funny how the walk to the terminal really was the last time I’d see an American street from the ground point of view. Of course, I wasn’t thinking of that at the time, but just trying to get to my next destination on time and not miss any flights.

Then a 14 hour flight to Taipei followed a 2 hour wait at the airport. The flight continued to Kuala Lumpur and was three hours long. The longest wait came at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, over 11 hours long. I was supposed to wait for 10 and half hours but my last flight, to Zia International Airport in Dhaka, was about an hour late leaving.

It wasn’t necessarily an emotional journey (I didn’t bawl anytime during it) though I did have a lot of time to think, and to try not to think. I slept long hours and watched movies and shows on my Malaysian flight. All passengers could use the built-in TV screen and choose among several including Iron Man, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, and even MythBusters.

Interestingly enough, I was standing next to my seat-mate when we were both boarding our Malay flight from L.A. and started talking while in line. What else but the heat and humidity! Because I couldn’t pack it in my suitcase, and because I didn’t want airport and flight personnel to consider it as an extra personal item, I wore my gray wool coat when boarding. Ridiculous, I know…but useful too, in the long run. Works great as a blanket and keeps me from getting chills in the airport. I never used any of the plane’s blankets…was just fine with my coat.

Anyway, my seat-mate, Marie, is French-Canadian and partly Filipino. She’s from Appleton, Wisconsin and was flying to the Philippines for a family member’s funeral. We talked about the Midwest, our journeys, lives, families, and eventually parted in Taipei. While at the Taipei airport, we came across an interesting water fountain with a tap and soft paper bags that one would, at first glance, imagine them to be porous. Not so! Marie took pictures and I’ll post them here or in a future post after she emails them to me.

I didn’t see the Pacific Ocean until Friday morning. Having crossed the International Date Line sometime during the night before, I never realized when Thursday slipped into Friday. I’d stopped wearing a watch years before and had begun relying on my cell phone to check the time. This time though, since I left my phone with Shajia, I had to wear a watch. However, my watch died mid-flight and I had been checking clocks constantly. Time marches on…more later.