Welcome to the blog portion of my blog. This was first shared as an email. It has been edited for posterity, but it's not substantially different. Feel free to skip it if you read it already.
I arrived at the Portland airport at 4:30 am (Suzie is a rock star for driving me!) to long lines and frantic passengers. I was a bit worried about the weight of my luggage, made no less light by the last minute addition of two rather hefty tomes about Chinese characters and language as studied through menus and Chinese cooking. They were too good to leave behind, however. (Thanks Tanya!) I patiently waited in line while all the other passengers looked at me askance because of my two giant suitcases, box, small carry-on suitcase, and messenger bag. I'm going for twI let it all wash over me like someone else's bad dream.
Carry-on screening was easy and the line was super short. yay! I was at my gate with an hour to spare, rearranged my messenger bag (which really is over-stuffed, but whatever) and grabbed a book. (It's John Irving's newest and in the first two chapters he has already set the scene in New Hampshire and hauled out a bear -- very John Irvingesque.)
I sat next to the burly dude on the tiny commuter to San Francisco. Oh well. I used my new travel pillow and took a nap. I have high hopes for more napping on the way to Beijing.
We arrived early and I'm sitting in a nearly empty gate. In a few moments, I'll go track down some doubly-over-priced food (once for being in an airport and again for being in San Francisco) before camping out for the two and half more hours before the next stage.
I have no idea what sort of Internet access I will have when I arrive in China. I do know that phone calls will be ridiculously expensive, so please DO NOT call me or text me unless the world is ending (in which case, I probably already know and it's still a wasted effort). I will write again as soon as I am able.
Oh, and my delightful summer cold is developing a nice cough. I'll be super-fun to sit next to. :-D
Thanks for all your well wishes. Stay tuned for more details.
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