The more -than-35 hour journey to go on vacation

Trip back to USA, the first in several years

My pre-flying jitters didn’t stop for several days. I’m aware that a great deal of this comes from the fact that I am not often away from my dog, but that isn’t the whole of it. I seriously trust the dude that is looking after her and in many ways she is going to be a bit better off with him than she is with me because he lives on a much quieter street and lives on the ground floor. I am in a top floor apartment in one of the busiest parts of town and therefore our outside time is severely restricted and often quite short due to dangers on the streets. At his place, he can just open the door and as long as he keeps an eye on her, everything is going to be fine. At my place there are a ton of restrictions because she could die so many different ways because of the cars, motorbikes, and just general sense of “me first, me only” that exists over where I live.

It isn’t just accommodations that put my mind at ease though. The guy genuinely cares about Nadi a great deal and made certain that he had emergency contact information for her vet, and a 24-hour veterinary service should the crap truly hit the fan. I rest easy knowing she is fine with him and he is going to shower her with attention that she may not even get all that much from me because I’m just kind of used to having her around.

_{my friend sent me this to show that she was sleeping already, just half an hour after I left}

This isn’t to say that I don’t look after Nadi very well, I think anyone that reads any of my stuff is aware that I am borderline obsessed with her well-being and would do almost anything for her. My buddy just doesn’t have a dog but sometimes wishes he did. Nadi is able to provide the best of both worlds because not only is she a cute dog, she is an extremely well-behaved dog that gets tired really easy and mostly just wants to sleep all the time.

The jitters about my flying weren’t just dog-oriented, they were also fears of what I know is true and that is that flying just downright sucks these days. Almost anything involved with it is a huge damn hassle and this is before we even factor in the fact that I am going to the other side of the planet and it is going to take over 30 hours for the entire thing.

The hassle exists in what I can only presume is some level of trying to remain financially competitive and this means that all of the airlines don’t have as many staff as they should. I am a nervous traveler so I was at the Danang International Airport 4 hours before my flight and lo’ and behold, the desk for the airline I was dealing with wasn’t even open despite the fact that it is they that recommend that you turn up that early. I had to wait an hour before anyone was even behind the desk and this is something I didn’t really notice until now but many probably already know: none of these counters actually belong to any one airline: The LCD’s behind them just change to whatever airline needs them at the time and the rest of the time I guess they have an office hidden somewhere in the back where no actual customers can bother them.

_{they tell you to get there super early and then don't even have anyone to check you in when you do exactly that}

I was in that cattle line for about another hour and then had the joy of being in Immigration and security for half an hour or more. By the time I was through and was able to get into a lounge, I still had plenty of time before my flight. And here is where I get to the point about how things in the airport don’t HAVE TO BE a hassle, they just ARE for the sake of saving money on staff. The lounge had about 5 times as many staff as they actually needed and everything was absolutely perfect. This is in the same airport where there are massive logjams and throttle points that makes everything take a lot longer than it should.

_{The lounge access was totally worth it in Da Nang after the rigmarole of security and immigration}

I’m only in Taipei, Taiwan at this point: About 4 hours into the more than 30 I have to go though and the hassle on the first leg of the flight reminded me of another thing I despise about international travel. These airlines utilize the first 30 minutes or so at the front and back end of the flight to subject their captive audience to unskippable ads on all the screens. While I ignored the lady when she came by, she tried to tell me that I couldn’t have my own headphones on during this time either. We are being forced to watch ads like in those episodes of Black Mirror where if you close your eyes an alarm goes off until you watch the ads in front of you. This is not a budget airline either, this was a full-service airline and I guess this is just protocol now, and I hate it.

I am about to travel over the Pacific ocean and at least once I get past the obligatory adverts (which I have already seen because I flew with the same airline to get here) they will likely turn all the lights off and leave us alone for at least 10 of the 12 total hours.

My intention is to stay awake for the meal they serve at the start of it and then pop two Ambien to hopefully fast forward in time to Los Angeles. That’s where the real fun and the real complaining is going to take place on my part.

We all should visit our family more often than we do I guess, but seeing as how I am only about 1/8 of the way through this hellish journey and it has only just begun, this is the main reason why I don’t do it more than I do personally.

Hopefully the drugs will work on me and someone on my row isn’t trying to go to the bathroom once every 8 minutes – which with my luck is exactly what is going to end up happening.