Never have I ever been so claustrophobic on an airplane until now, haha. Sitting in a window seat on a fully sold-out American Airlines flight from Chicago to San Francisco on a Boeing 737 with 3-by-3 seating and less than a foot of legroom is driving me and my long legs nuts. Thankfully, it's just for four hours because if I had to fly 14 and a half hours west to Hong Kong being this cramped...I think I'd rather swim. But I like American Airlines, and this flight attendant (I think she's Italian) is just gorgeous.
Saying goodbye to my parents may have been the hardest thing I've ever done. It's always hard seeing my mom cry, which she did as she hugged me goodbye, and it probably didn't help that I cried too, hugging both of them. I figure if we just stay in contact frequently, everything will be alright. So, how was airport security at O'Hare? Not terrible, but not good. Of course, they had to look through my bag and scan it twice due ot the hefty amount of camera equipment I had packed, and my MacBook Pro seemed to have drawn some degree of attention to it for a reason I'll never know. I was given the option to walk through a body scan or have a pat-down, and chose the former. You enter this box and stand wide, putting your arms up in the air as if you're in a holdup. Seconds go by, and if you don't remain still, which I, out of boredom, failed ot do, the whole process repeats itself. Whoops. Let's just hope my 67-pound checked suitcase with four or so months of clothes and living supplies makes it across the ocean too and on to its final destination of Vietnam.
Whoa, this jet has those TV screens that automatically flip down and show movies. I gotta get one for my car when I get back home.
Well, we are now in the air and on our way west to San Francisco. It's kind of cool to be so high up in the air at night. Everything is completely pitch black, and then random, sporadic clusters of large, lit-up towns and cities appear thousands of feet below. I find it hilarious that I myself am completely terrible at driving at night, but here we have two pilots flying an airliner holding like 150 people, at more than 300 mph, in the dark, with no lighting whatsoever in front of them. That takes balls to do. I've got a four-hour flight ahead of me until we land in California so I think I'll play some Angry Birds on my laptop, listen to some tunes, catch up on the latest Car and Driver and Car magazines, and, hell, maybe I'll even watch a little Top Gear. I figured I'll save the sleeping for the long-haul, trans-Pacific flight. Oh, and props to American Airlines for having outlets to plug all of my stuff in, like my laptop. It was nearly impossible to find a place at O'Hare to charge my laptop and camera batteries.
About two-and-a-half hours, maybe three, into this flight, I had read a decent number of pages in my Lonely Planet guidebook to Vietnam (seriously, what a great book and a must for anyone traveling to a foreign country they've never set foot in before), and snacked on a few Red Vines (thanks, Dad). I'm looking out my window right now, down below, and it looks as if we are flying over the Rocky Mountains. Wow, just breathtaking, because even at night you can make out just how tall they are and see their snowy peaks. I've never really seen the Rocky Mountains before, or been to them, so this was a treat.
Live from San Francisco! My first flight on my itinerary over to Vietnam was a bit tight but pretty good overall, and we even landed early. I think I'll do a bit of walking around and stretching, grab a bite to eat, and figure out a way to get rid of this headache I have. Getting off the plane, I have to say this airport was very confusing to navigate. After making it through another round of security, which was a breeze compared to my experience at O'Hare, I approached my gate in the international terminal: A6. As I walked toward the windows, I looked out and saw the towering blue and white Cathay Pacific Boeing 747 I'd be spending the next 14-15 hours on. In awe and surprise, I literally said out loud, "Holy fuck, that's a big plane!" I'm really excited to fly on the 747, because ever since I was younger, my dream job has been to be an airline pilot. True fact. So for me, being an aviation nerd...flying on a 747 for the first time is comparable to, like, being a little kid and riding around in a flashy, fast red Ferrari or something special. I'm ecstatic and hungry. Time to find the nearest Cinnabon stand in this airport or somewhere I can grab a final meal of junky, unhealthy American food one last time before I cross the ocean.
My next update will be from Vietnam in two days. Wish me luck! Oh, and this airport's complimentary 45 minutes of high-speed WiFi internet access is an epic win.
~Robby
