One Small Step Before the Great Leap Forward

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Chinese history, anyone?

Have to be quick, since I didn't bring my laptop (the 747 does not have power ports) and access at O'Hare is costing me $5 per 15 minutes. Ugh.

A frantic, horrible rush to finish packing, as usual, but compartmentalizing everything into zip-up plastic bags made loading up the luggage so simple. I was skeptical, this morning at RDU when I turned my bag over to the United Airlines folks. They take care of it all the way to Hong Kong, then turn it over to Cathay Pacific for the final leg to Manila. I am concerned, to say the least, about the luggage making it to Manila with me, given the change of hands that will have to take place. I can't even check in to my Hong Kong-->Manila flight until I get to Hong Kong, and then, not until I've cleared Chinese customs. So I'll be shaving it close, and sprinting to my Manila departure gate.

Still don't know exactly how I'm going to meet up with my parents in Manila. I hope they know to pick me up at the baggage claim in Manila, since we can't coordinate by cell phone.

Was exhausted this morning getting on the plane to Chicago, drifting in and out of fitful sleep after being up almost all night packing last night, watching the same episodes of The Daily Show and Colbert Report play again and again. As we took off from RDU, the water streaked by my window like tears running across the grey sky backdrop. This was the last thing I saw before dozing off.

O'Hare is more spectacular than I remember. Something about the bustle of shops and the intermingling of foods from all directions reminded me of drifting through the crowds at the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament in Greensboro, the whole place pulsing with energy. I thought about buying a small ID card holder, but the leather shop was charging $24 for it! Forget that. My mood was brightened by seeing a head-shaven gentleman pass by in a G-Unit sweatshirt. I want one.

And they have a replica of a brachiosaurus skeleton, towering over those who pass by the United check-in desk. I don't even come up to its knee. I think the only people who might be heads above the knee of the massive dinosaur would be Josh McRoberts and Greg Oden.

And now, I await the boarding of Flight 895 to Hong Kong. A 15 hour endeavor on the massive, if somewhat classical, 747. An entire waking day spent in flight, and the longest flight I've ever been on, previous trips to Switzerland and Russia included.

So I leave to hurry up and wait, and will immerse myself in Noli Me Tangere, the first classic Filipino novel by Jose Rizal, patriot, artist, intellectual, and physician. Hope to finish it before arriving in the motherland.

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Comments

[Amanda]

the travel question
If a man leaves his current home travel half way around the world to find what was once home, does the home he now knows become his overstayed vaction?