Travel Part I

My siblings are dying for me to post this first part of the blog for today. Because they know once I do it will be open season on first class teasing and snarky messages they can leave on the message board. The trip has not exactly gotten off to the most auspicious start. Art and I managed to get to the airport with plenty of time to spare. However, we encountered some confusion when we tried to check in. “EVA airlines?” Various airport personal would say with a puzzled frown. They don’t open their counters till 2p.m.
When we explained our flight was 1p.m., we were met with more blank stares. I began to have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach and it wasn’t from the thought of the food on the plane. At last, a kindhearted security screener asked to see our itinerary. He looked at us with pity reserved for those that are not so bright. The flight was at 1 AM he informed me in no uncertain terms, not 1PM. Man, that little am or pm notation would have been handy on the printout. EVA rose to the occasion, however, working with us diligently to try to get us rescheduled. “Don’t feel bad,” the lady at the counter told me, “You’re the fourth people today to do the same thing on this flight.”
All that help didn’t solve a host of problems, however – such as getting a hold of our driver in Cambodia who was picking us up; getting a hold of our hotel to change our reservations; getting a hold of CCF to change our Monday meeting, etc, etc. Plus now we are spending the night in Taipei as we try to get a connecting flight to Cambodia – so we needed to find a hotel to stay in later. I discovered my anytime minutes DO NOT include international calling. My new Production Assistant, Brie, stepped up to the plate and contacted everyone. She’s just been promoted to Most Amazing Ever PA. And thank God for Wireless Internet – I tapped into in the lobby of the nearby Sheraton Hotel. I was able to book us a room in Taipei tonight. Art has been very cheerful. “I always wanted to see Taipei” he says as he drinks his lemonade. I was too busy sucking on the lemons myself….
So now we are stuck at the LAX international airport where we have already been for 5.5 hours waiting to get a flight out. And since I’ve already eaten the food I packed for the plane, I guess I am stuck with the airline food after all…