Day One and Nine-Tenths

I can't even begin to describe how utterly exhausted I am.

My teeth, knees and shoulders are throbbing. I don't know why my teeth hurt, but they do.

I'm stiff from all the sitting but too tired to move. I knew it was going to be a difficult trip, but I didn't think it would be this tiresome.

No complaints, though... I'm SOOOOO close! It will all be worth it when I arrive.

I'm pretty sure the woman beside me on the last flight had tuberculosis. She tried to play it as if the heater was drying out her throat, but I saw right through that ploy. I don't know how one passes TB, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that it's easily spread through casual contact when outer garments brush against each other.

I also met an MMA fighter. Well, I met the girlfriend of an MMA fighter. He wasn't there, but his family was going to pick her up so ipso facto I met him.

At least I'm having better "luck" with my fights than the two brothers I ran into at my favorite brew house (which yes, happens to have a spot at SFO!) They are on a quest to visit every NFL stadium, which is super cute in my opinion. They had a two-fer weekend, seeing the Raiders play in Oakland Sunday and the Niners play in San Francisco on Monday night. Unfortunately, their flights were delayed three hours on the way to the Bay Area, and when I met them they were four hours into a second delay... 3 1/2 of which where spent on the plane in the runway.

Not only have I made all of my flights, but they've each arrived early.

I did, however, manage to leave my wallet in the first plane today, along with all my identification and a small fortune in cash. Praise Jesus, it was returned without a cent missing. Amazing.

Traveling alone certainly has it's disadvantages. Like the fact that there is no one to watch your bags while you visit the restroom, and no one to make sure you don't get taken while you take a nap. There's also no one to carry the 75 pounds of luggage you managed to bring along, or ensure you haven't dropped your life near seat 29C.

I found a new secret to flying stress-free. With United, you can listen to all the radio communication between flights when you tune to the proper channel on your arm rest. It's comforting to know that when the plane drops a few hundred feet and starts jiggling that the pilots aren't screaming "MAYDAY MAYDAY," and I can breathe a lot easier.

This is a normal thing for me to be doing... right?

Anyway, when I got to Seattle I had hoped to check my luggage and do a bit of exploring near the airport, but that just wasn't in the cards. I lugged my baggage clear across the airport (I got off the plane on the north end and had to make it to the ticket counter on the south end...) I made it here only to find out that the counter doesn't open until 9, which is ten minutes from now, but when I arrived it was 6:30.

At this point, I just want to rid myself of this luggage, get through security, put food in my belly and sweet talk a flight attendant into waking me up before my next flight leaves.

Maybe I'll nap right in front of the gate door... that way they'll have to wake me up?

14 hours to Taipei, 3 more hours to Japan, 7 hours of layover. I'm so close!

I did, however, get to see the sun rise and set over the US today. I have to give a shout-out to my row-mate who had the window seat and took this amazing picture for me. In hindsight, the photo doesn't do the live scene justice. I was watching the sun set over the Pacific and I honestly couldn't tell what I was looking at... ground, mountain, ocean, sky, or something different altogether. It was absolutely beautiful.

Day One Continued: Time change is really weird.

I'm a firm believer in the fact that there should be one central time zone that the entire world goes by.

And it should be Eastern Standard Time, because that's where I'm from.

It's 2:12 pm by my watch, 5:12 where I came from and 7:12 am tomorrow where I'm headed.

If that's not enough to give you a headache, try flying five different planes in one day.

The last flight was a nightmare, albeit a short one. It only lasted 45 minutes, but my life flashed before my eyes on multiple occasions. I made the mistake of not looking at the plane before I boarded. It's something I try to avoid, because when I end up on a tiny pedal pusher I am more apt to switch flights than actually get on board. However, had I peeked today, I would have seen it was a normal sized-flight (well, the same size plan that took me across the country) but I would have noticed the "Student Flyer" sign that was most likely on top of the plane.

If you've never driven with a student driver, don't make your maiden voyage behind one 30,000 feet in the air.

The landing on my first flight earned a 9 out of 10. Smooth landing with a slight jump. A bit of turbulence, but it wasn't the worst I've ever endured. The pilot on flight #2 pointed the nose straight beneath us and hit the brakes. All sarcasm and exaggeration aside, the sudden change in altitude brought me dangerously close to fainting.

But, yet again, I survived. Exhaustion is setting in, but my goal is to make the "time change" switch while I'm doing my travel, which means staying awake until it's time to go to bed Japan time. Ten pm Japan time is 8 am Florida time, meaning I will have been awake for 27 hours straight if successful. (5 am Pacific Time)

Switching over like this serves two purposes: (1) it may keep me from sleeping through my boarding in Seattle to head to Japan, and (2) it will hopefully help jump start my time transfer and make it as seamless as possible.

If the whole world was on the same time zone, this wouldn't be an issue. I don't see why it's an issue for people in Japan to go to work at "9 am EST" everyday. Yes, they would be working through the middle of the night, but it makes my travel plans so much more convenient.

Oh, the world doesn't revolved around me? Crap... I guess I'll head to my favorite brew house, a native of San Francisco which happens to have a location in the airport. Lucky me! :)