Teacher Trekker

I’m currently sitting in John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport Terminal 4 waiting for my already delayed flight to Vietnam. Actually I am flying first to Osaka, Japan where I will pick up an almost immediate connection to Taipei, Taiwan. I will be sleeping overnight at a hotel courtesy of the airline and the following morning will continue on my last leg of the journey to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I have some time to recount my last few hectic days before my departure.

The international terminal has a great deal of businesses to keep travelers occupied while at the airport. There are a variety of duty free shops, candy stores, newsstands, massage spas and designer outlets where shoppers can burn the magnetic stripe off their credit card. Depending on what you want to eat and how much you are willing to spend, hungry travelers have a host of options ranging from basic mall style cafeterias to more fine dining experiences. At some point I stopped walking and decided to order food at a more health conscious business. The sandwich was good, but overly expensive like all airport food. We just can’t escape the local monopoly at times.

Apparently, wifi internet access is not free at JFK Airport. I know of delis and pizzerias around my neighborhood that are covered in dirt and grime that offer free wifi. Something has got to give. Although the fee is not ridiculous, according to most, the time between now and boarding is fleeting and not a great value. Actually, I take some of my previous statement back. Any fee is ridiculous. Between the fee and the limited amount of time I have left in the airport, it is not a sound investment. This is particularly the case when I know how many more $2 lunches I can scarf down once in Vietnam. As I sit waiting for my plane without the ability to upload, I will spend the next few paragraphs describing the last three days that have come and gone like a whirlwind.

Once the school year ended, I had a few more days to finish up preparing and packing for the trip. The end of the school year was extremely busy, and I did not have as much time as I would have liked to get all of my affairs in order. Once classes ended, I was able to complete the second round of all of my vaccinations and pick up all of the necessary medications I will need while in Southeast Asia. The dentist gave me a clean bill of health, and I even packed my toiletry bag with a new toothbrush, dental floss and toothpaste. All I need to do is provide the smile to clean and a case to store the brush head. I also needed to spray all of my clothes with heavy duty industrial strength insect repellant.

After getting all of my medical appointments completed, I moved on to finished up purchasing some new travel gear and began the packing process. I went to a camping store in Manhattan, where I ended up wandering around for hours comparing prices and different models. I was looking for the best deals compared to my previously conducted research before I went to the store. I found everything I was looking for quite easily. I mentally worked off a packing list I used in the military designed for three days of travel. After acquiring all of the necessary equipment for my journey, I then began to organize my gear and eventually pack it. I sprayed my clothes down with industrial strength insect repellant. My fingers will be crossed hoping it reduces the swarms of bugs that will be attempting to eat me alive. Stay tuned for a future update on how to pack your own rucksack/backpack for long term travel.

In a nutshell, I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off attempting to complete a laundry list of many small and a few larger tasks that all needed to be completed before my trip. I spent more money than I would have liked, and the same can be said for the amount of time I wasted. Despite the costs and mindless errands that needed to be run, it was necessary that they were completed before the trip so that all of my financial affairs were in order. For a sample of what I was up against, it makes perfect sense that my printer ran out of color ink moments before I wanted to print out copies of my essential documents. Murphy’s Law is always in effect.

As I wrap up, travelers are walking past me speaking more languages than I can count. Some sound familiar and others I couldn’t identify even with the help of the internet. The fashion of this international community fill the expansive corridors of the airport terminal. As one person sits down, another stands up. Today, my neighbors are transients, yet I, like an oak, remain, typing and charging my electronic equipment prior to departure. I didn’t sleep last night and am now beginning to doze off as I finish typing this paragraph. A loud voice over the PA system just informed me that the flight will begin to board shortly. The pilots and flight attendants have all begun the embarkation process. It’s time to pack up my laptop, board and get some much needed shut eye while the pilots (and computers) are flying to Osaka, Japan….. shifting tenses as I wrote this next section in Taiwan, while I sat around for another two hour delay. Unlike JFK most of the  restaurants and stores were closed despite the fact that it was only around 7 P.M. local time. It didn’t matter as I was not hungry or looking to shop. I found the wifi station that had no wifi, but did have electrical outputs so I took advantage of the free juice to power up all my electronics.

Approximately 16 hours later we landed in Osaka, Japan at Kansai International Airport. (Okay actually Osaka is around 50 km away, but now were getting into semantics.) The flight was fine. I was a little mad and perplexed about how other people’s carry on luggage that was larger than mine was allowed inside the cabin. Everyone’s legs eventually start to hurt. I recommend walking around whenever you feel stiff. It’s a 747: you have lots of space to explore over the course of the flight. China Airlines served two full meals: once at the beginning and once almost before we landed.  As time zones changed, we actually had dinner twice on two different days and unofficially, according to my silly brain, I basically skipped July 4th, America’s Independence Day. No barbecue on America’s birthday for me this year. I heard it rained anyway. Getting back, I swapped between watching movies, writing in my journal, reading magazines and sleeping. Two babies seemed to be having a crying contest that was reminiscent of a rap battle. If you want an audio sample email me, but I’ll spare the rest of you the headache.

Overall it was long and uneventful minus the kids, but I did learn something interesting.  While standing in line for the bathroom at the back of the plane, I noticed 4 rows on both sides of the plane that had 2 instead of 3 seats to accommodate some of the mechanics. These seats have extra room on the side to put your bags thus giving you more room to lounge. You can kick your feet to the side and really relax.  Flying to Osaka, or anywhere on a 747 for that matter, in coach suddenly becomes mock business class.

My stop over in Japan was brief and only was extended to wait for another late connecting flight in an airport where I had full wifi bars that didn’t work. The bathroom was absolutely wild.  A traveler brought it up to his friend so I had to check it out.  WAIT! You have a toilet that does everything but go for you, and the wifi in the airport doesn’t work! How does that make any technological sense. It was not like JFK Airport.  I read in English the sign that said “free wifi” in big capital letters. Something is messed up here.  After being amused by the toilet, it was just about time to get on my second connecting flight to Taipei, Taiwan, but more for that in my next post.