It was an early morning to say the least. After eventually falling asleep around midnight, a 1:30am panic wake up, and then finally getting out of bed at 3:30 to shower and complete last minute packing, I was already exhausted by the time of our departure from the house at a prompt 5am.
We loaded up the car – our tired and baffled bodies included--and headed down Cardinal Drive -- the houses still dark, in the sleepy haze between the night and the dawn.
We were right on time. Just as planned. Things were going smoothly . . . until about five miles out of Wilson when I realized I had left my computer charger (#$%@) plugged into the wall at home. A rushed turn around, a speedy tour through not so “Wide Awake” Wilson, a sprint down the hallway and into my room, and we were back on the road almost as if it had never happened. Almost.
The drive to the airport was as dark as it was silent, with only a little ambient NPR. Things were bad in Russia. Thing were bad in Nigeria. As is usually the case in world news, things were bad. None of that was my concern. My solitary concern this morning was getting on that flight in Atlanta.
My mom dropped my dad and myself off at the check-in counter and headed off to park the car, one last desperate attempt to keep time on our side. There was a line at Delta’s international check in, but nothing too detrimental to my day’s solitary concern. After waiting in line for a meager five minutes, it was my turn to throw my bag on the scale of truth. Limited to 50lbs per bag, I was pretty sure that my rolling duffle bag would be over the limit. At home it weighed 51lbs, and that was before my hectic morning “just throw it in there” packing. I lugged the bag onto the scale, and held my breath.
Damn! 52.5lbs. Surely they won’t charge me for 2.5lbs!?!? Alas, they would. So, it was either pay $80 for 2.5 lbs, or transfer (read cram) some weight into my second bag that was nowhere near the weight limit, but totally maxed out on capacity. Clearly, I have upon the horizon more important places to spend that money, so I opted for the second. Hurriedly, I tore open (ok, unzipped) the rolling duffle and made some weight conscious choices. I needed the most bang for my buck. Extra clothes. Some deodorant. Sunglasses or some such. Take a few items out, look at the scale. Take a few more items out, look again. After a few adjustments, and some shoving and crunching, I had my rolling duffle down to 50lbs exactly.
The woman who checked me in at the counter might have been one of the most unpleasant ticket person I’ve encountered. First, she was very forward and unhelpful concerning my weight problem, and very impatient for me to fix it. Second, she was quite bothered by the fact that I did not have a return ticket to the country. She wanted to know what I was doing. Well, I am going to teach, I told her. She wanted to see some type of proof. I gave her my international teacher’s identity card (who knew that would come in handy so early?!) Then she wanted to try and tell me that my visa expired in October. That is impossible, I told her. There must be some mistake. She refused to hand me my passport to check it, and when she finally gave it to me, very abruptly with my boarding passes, I doubled checked. The date she was looking at was the “Enter before” date. It was a pretty frustrating experience.
There wasn’t much time for goodbye, as I had to get through security and make it to my gate. This was actually pretty good; a lingering goodbye would have brought about within me lots of mixed feelings, making it even harder than it already was to will myself onto the escalator up to security.
From there, it was easy going to Atlanta. The flight from Raleigh was only an hour long, which gave me an idea of just how long my flight to Shanghai would be, about 17 more of those to be exact! I sat next to a woman who was on her way to Montréal for her only daughter’s wedding. She asked me about where I was going, and I told her through a laugh that I was going to China. The words are still so absurd to me. She told me that I would be fine, and that I would have a wonderful time. But then she said, “What do you do if you get over there and hate it?” What the hell are you trying to do lady?! I had no answer because I had not once, through this whole thing, allowed myself to think that way. I told her that I had traveled extensively out of the country, and although I had never been out of the country for anything near ten months, homesickness and culture shock were virtually foreign to me. It not, of course, that I don’t miss home, but I know that my parents are happy to have me out, about, and exploring the world. What was I going to do, live at home for the rest of my life?! Haha.
Travel Karma #53: When one has a short layover (read sub one hour), the arriving gate and the departing gate must be at opposite ends of the airport.
This was, no doubt, the case for me when I landed in Atlanta. I had to get from the A concourse to the E concourse. Thankfully, Gate 11 was the first gate on the right once I got to E, so I didn’t have to walk too far. I nervously approached the gate, not knowing who from the group might or might not be there.
It is always nerve-wracking to meet new people, but even more so when you know that you will be spending the next ten months of your life with them and will look to them for support, guidance, and a sense of family. No pressure there for making good first impressions.
From the corner of my eye, I saw a tall brunette waving at me, and I knew it was Tiffany. I went over to her, and gave her a big hug, and then we talked about her first flight, my first flight, our feelings about the days to come. Dennis had also arrived, but was out on a stroll around the concourse. Not long after I showed up at the gate, Hillary and Nathan arrived.
Hillary is a character. One of her first questions to me was, “Did you manage to fit all of your stuff into two bags?” To which I nodded, and then she went on to tell me that she couldn’t make it work and that she had checked three bags all weighing near fifty pounds. And there I am looking at her rolling a fourth suitcase behind her with a huge purse slung on her shoulder. Simply stunning. Hillary, you rock! We talked about what it was that she packed (mostly clothes and travel books given to her by well-wishing friends) and I mentioned that I had heard that Shanghai had some awesome shopping.
Nathan is really laid back. I remember asking him a question, although I cannot remember exactly what it was, and he replied, “Oh, I have no idea. I’m just along for the ride. If I need to know something I just ask her,” pointing to Hillary. They both went to school together at University of Michigan.
A few moments later, Dennis returned from his morning walk, and we all got to talking about what it would be like, posing lots of questions to see if anyone knew the answer. Dennis and I took field trip to the bathroom, and by the time we got back they were already boarding the plane. We were all pretty listless about boarding, knowing just how obscenely long our flight was. When there were very few people left outside the gate, we all decided that we may as well board. It would be pretty stupid to miss a flight while you were standing outside the gate, right?
Tiffany and I ended up sitting together in the extreme back of the plane, literally meaning the last seats on the left side. It has its benefits and its costs. One benefit is that it is just a two-seat row, so that gives us the illusion of having more space (which we do not actually have, hence the illusion). Cost: my face is about 12 inches from the door of the bathroom. All I will be able to smell for the next few days is the scent of disinfectant and deodorizer trying to cover up the scent of all that goes on in a bathroom. Not the most pleasant thing, but it is better than the trash smell coming out of the vents on the other side of the plane. At this point, I’ll take what I can get.
The view from my seat. Tiffany is recently engaged, so I spent some time with her going trough bridal magazines. If you had told me a year ago that I would be critiquing various wedding gowns and accessories on a flight to Shanghai to reach my place of employment with a girl from West Virginia and loving every moment, I never would have been able to believe it. I am seriously loving these moments. These moments where I am amazed at the random beauty of my own life. Its a wonderful gift and an exciting adventure to be me right now. Glad I can share it with you.
A cute kid on the plane who played with us for a while.
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