to travel is to live...

video blog : transportation

2011-12-17T21:48:00.000-08:00

What I’ve learned during 5 flights and 39 hours of travel… leg 4

2011-12-04T04:23:00.000-08:00

Charlotte to Boston to Chicago to Los Angeles to Beijing, China to Taipei, Taiwan

Los Angeles

RUN. The airport is huge, poorly marked and always under construction. I had two hours - which was being widdled down as we sat on the tarmac… why? Apparently there was a ‘traffic jam’ – where are the men with the illuminated candy corn? Hell, I’ll get off the plan and fix this ‘jam’…. I digress. I had two hours to get off the plane, retrieve my baggage, get to China Air, check in, get through security – possibly get through customs – and get to my gate! Sprint when you can and choose patience when construction creates a bottle neck of 50+ people and you can’t move. I grabbed a cart and my baggage plopped down within 10 mintues! GO. RUN. Down the length of the building to the cross walk (the more convenient one was….you guessed it… under construction), wait for the light to cross 6 lanes of traffic… frantically look around b/c I don’t see concourse 2 – I just see… a parking garage. Security tells me to zig zag around the buildings to the other side… seriously?! I run through a set of buildings resembling storage units… keep running. Cars. Airlines names. Another airport appears through the mini city! Air China – bolting… I am the only one in line. Shit. International flights require you (FSA law) to check in no less than one hour before a flight… I had THREE MINUTES to spare! Done! I get to the gate, it is packed with people waiting… I’m good! Food…. Burger King is the only thing open at 11:00pm….grrr. Salad? No salad. Grilled rubber ‘chicken’ sandwich please. I really wanted to sit down and eat but my gut said to eat at the gate… The plane wasn’t scheduled to take off for another 40 minutes but my gut won. I get to the gate to find it empty. No, e.m.p.t.y. I am the second to LAST person to board the flight. Thank you China Air for not being 6 hours late, but EARLY? Really? I find my seat and gear up for another adventure – Burger King ‘food.’ It hit the spot – I will not complain since I am eternally grateful they stay open longer than anyone else in the concourse. I get the window seat and the aisle seat is occupied by a straight faced Asian woman in her late 40’s. I smile, she does not. Okaay. After eating I ask her to move so I can get up and dispose of the greasy smelling BK bag, she responds with an annoyed look and a huff. Lady, this is going to be the longest flight of yo' life b/c I’m in a damn good mood considering I’ve been traveling for about 20 hours straight and you’re NOT going to take me down! I return to my seat already scoping out an empty row to escape Cruela and stretch out. There are two options, as I plan my escape she must have been doing the same thing b/c she shoots out of her chair and plants herself in an empty row. I am elated, invisioning every possible sleeping position! A flight attendant blocks her move and sends her back here… Checkmate. My moment is over. As we take off I pop two Melatonin. I will sleep dammnit and I will sleep now. As the sleep induced fog washes over me the flight attendant puts my vegetarian meal next to me. Ugh. I ate rubbery chicken when all I had to do was hold off for veggies and rice?! Fail. I force myself awake enough to eat dinner. Warm, soft sleep overtakes me. Glorious hours later I wake to a dark cabin – it’s still the wee hours Taiwan time… too late to take another Melatolin… so I read, listen to music, read, listen to music... Nine hours into the flight I have to pee and she doesn’t wake easily…I calculate a move that would propel me out of my space without waking her and make Olympic Internatioanl-Flight-Seat-Maneuvering history. She changes positions. Fail. I wait.... She’s up! I’m out…

What I’ve learned during 5 flights and 39 hours of travel… leg 3

2011-12-04T04:04:00.000-08:00

Charlotte to Boston to Chicago to Los Angeles to Beijing, China to Taipei, Taiwan

Chicago

No matter how rough your trip, how exhausted you are, SMILE and treat people with basic human courtesy. Shrina, a female taxi driver picked up a random radio call, which she usually doesn’t do but since she’d had such a horrible day she took a chance… and got me. I escaped the airport on a 3 hour layover to sample a proper ‘chicago’ pizza! Shrina picked me up at Giordano’s to return me to the airport. I hopped in the van, told here where to go and quickly grabbed gum to mask my pizza breath! “Would you like a piece of gum?” – a seemingly innocuous question broke the dam of her rough exterior. Turns out as a taxi driver you can expect ten cent tips, people on cell phones ignoring your existence only to bark, “turn off the radio, stop talking, shhh, take me…..” Not once had she been asked if she wanted a piece of GUM. Shrina, her husband and three year old son came to the US with green cards from India. She has a green card and has been working tirelessly for five years to earn their citizenship. She is the sole provider as her husband broke his back right before they left India and is disabled – he does not collect unemployment. After promising the opportunity for a new life in the US, the government is willing to grant Shrina citizenship. Her husband must return to India. Disabled, homeless and alone. Now the thought that she has an elaborate sob story and is playing me may have already crossed your mind, nearly 20 hours later, it just crossed mine. I’m a fairly skeptical person, I will air on the side of ‘what do you want from me.’ Shrina is not lying. Her · genuine burst of relief at being treated with dignity and kindness and the ease of our banter revealed a woman who just needed a little encouragement. She gave me her card, wished me a safe journey and said if I ever made it to India, to contact her. I opened her door and embraced my new friend. Namaste. See you in India.

When there is a drunk woman verbally attacking an airline worker, do something. So first off Spirit Airlines sucks, no two ways about it. They are cheap and in this case, you get what you pay for. However, when a plastic bag gets lodged in the engine and the mechanics have to remove the engine to retrieve the bag so that you don’t DIE, cut a girl some slack. I arrived at gate 7 to see the flight was scheduled for Fort Myers, not LA. Come to find out the Fort Myers flight had been delayed for 4 hours at this point due to mechanical issues and our plane would still be on time. The Fort Myers flight was delayed for a solid 6 hours, the girl at the counter gets a message and has to announce the flight is pushed back another 45 mintues… hour after hour. This would annoy anyone, granted. However Crazy McDrunkerson starts yelling, “tell us the truth, boooooo.” She’s about my height with short, unruly (the kind of wild look only an airport can give you) hair and is d.r.u.n.k. Everyone just stands there and watches the show… she waves her arms, paces back and forth yelling the same phrases. “Stop lying to us, tell us the truth. You know the truth…” All I did was herd her away from the counter and told her no, like she was a two year old. Here is a life lesson : no one deserves to be treated like shit for something they cannot control. Do not shoot the messanger. DO NOT shout that this is America and having to wait is ridiculous b/c YOU’RE ridiculous and need to get dropped in a developing country for a little perspective. Craig thought I should have dropped in a comment about airport shootings in San Pedro – ya know, a little persoective - but there’s no need to bust out trigger words that are sure to get you detained for questioning. I really wanted to punch her in the face but that would have involved the police, missing my flight, probably messing up my hand and missing Heathers birthday party. I refrained. She quieted down quickly and went back to drinking. When the next delay was announced she really lost her shit. Although I was two gates away you can’t mistake the unique sound of crazy. The same frazzled counter girl is desperately trying to explain the passengers options but is constantly interrupted by the ‘wtf’s, boo’s and McDrunkerson’s screaming which is getting the crowd more riled up. A short stocky man attmepts to herd Crazy away from the counter as she is now close enough to spit as she yells at the girl. The police arrive. She quiets down. I left before they boarded – I don’t know if she ever made it on that flight. For the sake of every exhausted person suffering the same fate with patience and dignity, I hope not.

Oddly enough, still in a great mood!

What I’ve learned during 5 flights and 39 hours of travel…leg 2

2011-12-04T03:56:00.000-08:00

Charlotte to Boston to Chicago to Los Angeles to Beijing, China to Taipei, Taiwan

Boston

Four hour layovers where you can visit family in between flights makes the unbelievably long trip more manageable and dare I say enjoyable. New England (and yes, I am bias!) is one of the most beautiful areas to fly into… endless coastline, elegant bridges and Cape-style houses excite me as I landed in Boston. My brother Will, his wife Cat and Alana (the youngest of their three kids) picked me up for a quick visit. We decided the The Friendly Waffle sounded like a great place to eat…if only the gps would work!!! Time after time the little blue dot I was following would jump from an overpass to a street below…too bad we can’t just jump on with you little blue dot…reroute! We arrive, hungry and confused as to exactly where it is! Tucked into a cove of high rises, we find ourselves in a quirky, retro restaurant! Alana points to a drawing of a glass with blue liquid and asks for juice…when cranberry juice (not the blue juice she pointed to and CLEARLY asked for) comes out, she says ‘I want that one’. Her first lesson in false advertisement! I explain they don’t have blue juice, just blueberry pancakes… we order the blueberry pancakes! Cat and I share the herb omelet with cheese and cashews and the smoked salmon benedict (this is officially my last chance to get a benedict!). Y.U.M. and ooh so full! They drop me off at the airport and send me off with a tearless (thank you!) goodbye... off to LA with a quick stop in Chicago...

What I’ve learned during 5 flights and 39 hours of travel…leg 1

2011-12-04T03:25:00.000-08:00

Charlotte to Boston to Chicago to Los Angeles to Beijing, China to Taipei, Taiwan

Charlotte

It’s easier to say your good bye’s at the curb rather than feeling the teary eyed stares of your family as you inch through security. My late twenties have produced a greater appreciation for my family than I ever realized I possess. They have decided to sell our property in MA. For a variety of reasons this is both a tragic disappointment and epic relief. When asked how I felt about selling, I told my mom that it’s just a piece of property. The house I grew up in, woods I explored and business I worked my first job at no longer resemble the thriving life we once had. They are now shells of buildings, having taken a beating from years of tenants whose history is not etched in their walls. I do not walk away from that property with the sadness of what we loss but rather with the reality of what I learned there. In that house we rescued, raised and buried countless pets, had pool parties in the freezing New England summers, we explored and build forts in the acres of woods that surrounded us. In this house we each battled through adolescence into adulthood and endured the dreaded moments when we were caught; mom and dad would wait up, leaving one lamp on in the living room. The l-shaped couch was eerily illuminated by a tall lamp tucked behind with five arms reaching over the couch. This was the spot. You’d come in and know… something was off. Creeping up to the second floor you could see through the railing… the lamp was on and they were both sitting on the couch…waiting. They never came out and told you what you’d done, nope, they’d ask if there was anything you wanted to tell them. Shit. There’s a lot you’re probably referring to but hell if I’m going to implicate myself! So it became a game that · ultimately culminated in a ‘talk.’ They talked, you endured. This was the worst punishment….ever….you never knew how long it would last. I now appreciate those awkward moments when they pretended to have it all together. In reality, they were winging it – going with their gut on how to parent and pretending to have it all together. I adore my parents most for showing me what it means to love. My parents instilled a selfless love for people that remains unmatched. I have vivid memories of working at the repair shop, a single mom would come in for a simple repair and dad would throw in an oil change. His reason why, ‘because she’s a single mom and has enough to worry about.’ They took in a sixteen year old kid we barely knew and he was instantly part of the family. I now have a sister-in-law, two nieces and a nephew who I can’t imagine my life without. Love.

To know my mom will sit in the attic, surrounded by years of toys, albums and history – to pack up and process while two of her three kids missing. This makes it difficult to imagine living away from them.

I walk away smiling...I come from good stock!

why?

2011-10-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

why...

are all my books in storage bins

am i selling everything from my printer to my car

do i get surges of giddy excitement

am i counting down...7 1/2 weeks...53 days

have i already started packing

this is why : MOVE

temptation to buy new gear..:

2011-09-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

...to buy new gear or not to buy new gear! THAT is the question!

i took inventory of what i have & what i realistically need

(easily 50% LESS than what you think!)

need:

pack:

- used to carry 90% of my life on my back anywhere in the world

- while you could save up to $100 purchasing a used pack off craigslist, rei offers support if/when you need to replace your gear! the

excellent customer service makes it worth the extra money!

they personally fit me with a deva 60 = l.o.v.e.

- new purchase b/c when carrying 40-50lbs the last thing you need is the pack to be ill- fitting, causing pain! this is by far my largest investment for gear. it's worth every penny when 40 lbs feels like 20 b/c it fits.like.a.glove!

- note it is a boring kacki color... when travelinging it's best to blend in. the amazing burnt orange pack sends a very different message!

backpack/daypack:

- carry-on & day pack that will protect my laptop,

e-reader, passport, money, etc

- incredibly impressed by pacsafe's theft proof

merchandise. i decided on their largest pack :

the venturesafe 25L adventure pack

- the pack is even more impressive in person!

travel hammock:

-i've had this hammock for years, wouldn't leave home without it

- it weighs 27 ounces, made of parachute material, holds up to 400 lbs and has attached mosquito net. suspension cords are provided!

- this hammock takes two minutes to set up and provides hours of mosquito-free relaxation!

nook:

- nook vs. kindle came down to:

- prefer touch screen over the myriad of buttons

(apple - you have ruined me!)

- @ 30 min a day the battery lasts 2 months!

- cleaner page changes = less glitchy

- i don't need e-mail access or apps - just books!

- keepin it simple

- if you're leaving the US be forewarned you cannot purchase books internationally. have someone in the states purchase said books on your account and when you update your nook, the latest purchases will download. (annoying, yes, the jury is out whether it's worth the hassle)

throw in 40lb of clothing & toiletries and you'll have my life in a pack.

since i won't be cooking over fires, extra gear stays stateside! except for the headlamp, you can always use a headlamp! in the event i go camping, additional gear will be purchased in country.

next up : paperwork, paperwork, paperwork...

: rach :

and the wandering begins again...

2011-09-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

it has been three years and four months since i have traveled outside of the US... the longest i have stayed in one country since 1999. during this time i worked through my mid twenties, throwing around the idea of settling down, purchasing a house and getting a 'real' job... this sounded like a possibility for oh 2 days!

my experience on planet earth up to this point has taught me to focus on and embrace my strengths (weaknesses will automatically improve), LOVE people, LOVE me.

this coupled with a growing need for adventure and travel is launching me into a new phase....

the plan : find a job in another country, go, explore, save $, REPEAT... until further notice.

1. taipei, taiwan.

december 1, 2011 i head due west for 15,170(ish)miles

to come : gear, travel insurance, how to sell your life!

: rach :