Wednesday, October 17, 2007

“Crossing Into a New Life”

I left last night at 9pm for a new adventure. It was surreal in many regards, from the fact that I sat a row away from Deuce Bigalow (Rob Sneider) on my way to L.A., to the mad sprint through the Taipei airport, only to see that they actually held the plane doors open an extra five minutes for me.

The trip so far has been one hoop to jump through after another. It started with checked baggage issues in Minneapolis. After convincing them not to charge me $150 for a third bag, I was in the plane and on my way. I looked out the jet’s window at what was…years of fun in Minneapolis! Hundreds of parties, quiet movie nights, basketball games, and “guys’ nights out” have brought me to this. The realism that I was off to live across the world hit me with an overwhelming sense of awe.

As I deboarded the plane, I found myself walking next to none other than Rob Sneider. I thought about doing a cheesy impression of a Middle-Eastern pizza delivery guy, but then, I figured I shouldn’t be "that guy" to this disgruntled-looking comedian.

1:15am and I was still sitting at the terminal in LA waiting to get on my China Airline flight over to Taipei. First class on an Asian airline is actually quite unbelievable. The flight attendants cater to your every need, and the food is actually really good! Safely abroad, I proceeded to crash out for 8 hours, watch the new Die Hard for a couple more, and finally, I figured out that there was actually SuperNintendo games on the TV monitor. I tore up StreetFighter II, but I never actually was able to beat the last guy (what’s his name?).

6:40am and I land in Taipei. My flight to Singapore leaves at 7:10am. I need to de-board, get my ticket, and get to the gate…I didn’t, but luckily, someone from Singapore Air found me and raced me, literally running, through the Terminal. I don’t remember what the airport looks like, but they held the gate until 7:15am. Now aboard the plane, it is the most amazing plane I have ever been on. Everything people told me about Singapore seem to be true at this point. The plane is elegant and modern, with all leather seats, on-plane electric outlets, and attendant service that cannot even be described it’s so good.

Only one problem…I don’t know if my luggage raced to the cargo for this plane. I guess I’ll find out when I land!

...and here I am...the luggage didn't make it initially. For my troubles, they gave me S$150 at the airport and said they'd deliver my luggage when they found it. Four hours later, it arrived at my apartment door. Now isn't that irony...they wanted to charge me $150, didn't do it, and ended up GIVING me $150 and door-delivery service! Ha, that's amazing!

More to come...

Evan

Evan

2 comments:

Taus said...

CRAZY! Thats quite the way to arrive in style. Pimping IS easy, isn't it. I think it was M.BISON

M. said...

Too funny - you dashed your way through the Singapore airport and I am currently stuck here for the next ten hours - 1am, sans hotel. I can tell you, though, it's nice. There's a free movie theatre, lounge, free interent and a nap/shower station that I might take up later.

I'm on my way to Indonesia on business, and will be back through for vacation on November 17th. It'd be fun to catch up for a drink (even though I'm pretty sure I fall far far down that list of friends you wrote about in your second post!

If not, it's nice to see you again in blogger-world. Good luck with your new position at Kraft!

M. Kruger