The never ending airplane journey

June 16th 2008
Michigan time: 06.29pm.
At 4:10 Am this morning, we awoke to the loud, beep beep beep of the alarm clock.

My first instinctive thought was: "NO! I don't want to go to school!!" Usually, each morning we awake to the alarm clock, jump into our clothes, grab good old peanut butter jelly, toast, or yogurt and rush off to our jobs. I rush to my group of second grade monsters and Steve flies off to his customers that roar with fire about payments and loans in the call center. BUT NOT TODAY! Oh right, it is summer vacation. The day of our departure for our crazy South East Asia bike trip! The reality set in and ignited all my emotions at once: excitement, anxiety, the love of adventure, the fear of the unknown. A burst of adrenaline sent me hopping out of bed and to my feet. Laying in bed at midnight, I had went through my mind with a list of morning "to dos" and amazingly , they popped into my head immediately-- SSWW (shorts, sheet, wallet, and watch!) Everything was packed. It was really not that difficult when all we could take we HAD to carry for the entire trip on our bicycles. Gy came punctually to pick us up in her white van and by five a.m., we were rolling down a lonely Westnedge Ave. Usually bustling with traffic, the street was so empty it looked like a parking lot. The wee hours of driving to Chicago- O hare airport tip-toed away while we discussed everything from travel dreams, fears, and Hungarian music with Gy. We thank Gy for her love and positive energy to make the very first leg of our travel a fun and beautiful memory.
9:00 a.m. Kalamazoo time we pulled into the front of terminal one at O'hare airport. "What if they wouldn't accept our bicycles? Are they packaged ok with the cardboard boxes? How on earth are we going to fly 13 hours? It will be my longest flight ever. I felt anxiety and excitement, happiness all at once. Together all of these emotions compiled a recipe for a solution similar to an energy drink. We taped all our boxes closed while waiting in the check in line. A round-faced gentleman called us politely to the counter. An assistant taped our boxes again with airline tape with ANA written all over it. A dog to our right inside of a carrier/cage barked.
"It the dog yours too?" the man asked.
"No!" Steve grinned, "traveling with two bicycles is enough trouble."
"Do you live in Vietnam?"
"No! We live in the United States."
"We are going to a bicycle through Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand," I offered.
"Awesome!" the gentleman replied warmly. "Have you ever flown with ANA airlines before?"
"No!" I stated anxiously, "I am actually worried about the long thirteen hour flight."
"Oh, flying ANA is like a five star hotel!" he replied kindly.
We put each bicycle on the scale one at a time. With my bicycle, we had packed all the tools. My bicycle weighted 17 kilos. Just like that the boxes and bicycles were checked! We took a photograph with Gy. Checking in and passing through security was a breeze.
So the thirteen hour flight... Well, I HATE sitting. I I purposely slept only five hours of less each night on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. My dream wasw to sleep most of the thirteen hours out of pure exhaustion.
We had a couple of hours to wait in Chicago before boarding and of course there are Starbucks Coffee Shops popping out of every gateway and corner in the airport luring me with the aroma of freshly brewed espresso/mochas. Thanks to Kerri Grabiec's suggestion, I tried a double shot espresso on ice. So maybe it was that double shot of espresso or maybe it was just the adrenaline of traveling but after watching FIVE movies (Jumping, 27 dresses, Just for laughs, Bucket, and Vantage Point) I AM CURRENTLY STILL SITTING HERE AWAKE!! I'm excited for our landing in Ho Chi Minh City. Those first few minutes of becoming aquainted with a new place... How will it feel? I imagine there to be narrow streets with bikes, carts, cars, vendors crowding every block and corner. Of course, we will be landing at 11:00/midnight... So it might feel like a ghost city. We made reservations online with a hotel recommended by our lonely planet guidebook to also pick us up in a minivan. Although the airport is only 4 miles from the hotel and I would LOVE to walk/bike it especially after more than 18 hours of sitting, I don't know how safe it is in the neighborhood between the airport and the town center, so late at night.

Flight from Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh city. Time: 10:40 AM Michigan time, 9:40PM Vietnam time. We only have about 1 hour to go. We have slept almost the entire journey from Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh, eyelids are still heavy.



Ok, the internet is closing so I will have to drop you all there and write you later. We are here safe in Ho Chi Minh city enjoying new sites and wishing you all well in Michigan Love, T and Steve