My Departure

4:50 AM Wednesday, December 3rd
My Last night in the U.S. was quite restless. I laid in bed for about 30 minutes and tried to get some sleep. After what seemed like an hour only ten minutes had passed. This repeated two more times. The clock always seems to do the opposite of what you want it to do. Even though, I tried to relax I just couldn’t get to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes I would see myself at various stages of my trip. I walked myself through my mind skipping along the envisioned time line; checking in, going through security, endless waiting at the gate. I fell asleep around 11:45 and woke up 3 hours later.

My Uncle Carl and my Aunt Julie woke up and helped me load my bags into the car and drove me to the airport. I arrived at the airport at 4 AM, much earlier than I would even consider waking up. Fifty minutes later I’m sitting in front of my gate with one hour before they begin to board. Checking in my bags took a while I guess it is to be expected if you bring an extra bag. It was surprising to discover that the nice lady at the counter was well mannered even at 4 AM. She told me that she was happy because she gets home before 10 AM, which would suggest she started at 1AM if she works a full 8 hour shift. Yikes! But seriously I was surprised to find out they didn’t know how much to charge me for an extra bag.

Once again being nice has paid off. The woman at the check in counter upgraded my flight free of charge. I was upgraded from Economy to Economy Plus, whatever that means. So many people have complaints about airport staff but if you treat them nicely and with respect then they will treat you in a similar manner.

As I sit here waiting for my flight my mind flickers back and forth to various memories. Being at the airport will always remind me of my first time flying a plane, a truly memorable event. Not taking a plane but actually flying one, it was a single prop Piper.

When my mind settles I quickly realize it is me and Amelia’s anniversary. We have been dating for 3 years. I remember that this date isn’t really the anniversary of when we begun dating but of the first message I sent her on Myspace. I remember how much time we spent chatting online and talking on the phone. A night didn’t pass when we weren’t online or on the phone. I had spent almost 4 weeks chatting with her before we ever met in person. At that time my life was crazy and rapidly changing I was finishing up college and was gearing up for the real world.
I got on my flight from Sacramento to Los Angeles and spent the duration speaking with a nice woman, mother of five, on an anniversary trip to Hawaii. Their 15 year anniversary was 1 day after my 3 year anniversary.

My 3 hour layover was pretty uneventful. I boarded the Korean Air 747 and quickly took my seat. As the plane got ready for the take off I pleasantly discovered that the seat next to me was empty. I took advantage of the vacancy fully, stretching my legs often. I had the window seat and enjoyed view and also being able to lay against the wall of the plane.

The guy who sat in the aisle seat was interesting. He had similar interests as me. We talked for about an hour and a half about topics as varied as Obama, automotive history and future, flying, and economics. Overall he was a very interesting person to talk with. However, no matter how interesting a person he is guys can only talk for so long. So, most of the flight was spent watching movies and viewing the GPS map system on my personal screen located in the back of the seat in front of me.