Day 0

We left the house in the Miata so that we would use less gas. Not really a lot of leg room so I had to engineer my knees so that something didn’t fall asleep. In the process, I managed to fall asleep for a while. We finally made it to the Princeton Junction and I went in to get a ticket.

In line, the girls in front of me asked the same question repeatedly because the tickets have about seven letters on them and aren’t very detailed. I got my ticket once they were done, $11.75. I went back to the car to get my stuff and say bye to Mom. Carolyn called me and we talked about the previous night and how she’d woken up at 3:40pm. Many deep conversations were had that unfortunately got lost in the white Russian haze.

After an Acela train flew by, mine showed up. I got on the car to find no air-conditioning, not good. I sat in the heat until the conductor came by and said that the next car was conditioned, I might have ran him over a little. I was sitting by myself for a majority of the trip, but once we got to Penn Station in Newark (not NY yet) two of the largest human beings I’ve ever seen decided to squeeze into my seat. They were married and both were at least double my weight, if not more. Anyway, we made it to Penn Station and I proceeded to look like a lost bunny rabbit for a good ten minutes.

Eventually I figured it out (despite the lack of good signs) and went into the basement, which housed the subway. I found a Subway and got a meatball sub. I got it toasted and decided I would eat it after I got off the subway (haha, subway on the subway), dumb idea. I stumbled onto the right platform and my train was just arriving, the timing of all this was perfect which would’ve been great if I didn’t have the entire day to get to the airport (all the while I’m grinning from ear to ear because the randomly placed songs on my shuffle are fantastic). After a long while, we got to the JFK stop.

I got off, found a seat, and inhaled half of my somewhat soggy but still warm delicious sub. I went upstairs to the Airtran and got a Metrocard for $5 to get through. I waited 5 min and the train showed up.

I made it to the check in counter only to find that Asiana didn’t have one, yet. They only opened at 8:30pm; it was 7pm (damn the good timing). I went downstairs, finished the other half of my sub and read more of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” (I will finish this book before I come back). I came back up to the counter around 8:10 to find a short line for my flight; I guess other ppl like to be really early. It was mostly families and they had a ton of checked bags. I got my ticket, called, spoke to dad for a little, and then went through security. Why is it that no matter how many times ppl are told, they don’t take off their shoes or jackets or anything else? There was also an Indian woman who would not stop waving goodbye to her family, it just got annoying after they were having 100ft conversations and she kept jumping around in line. I got through and after deciding not to have a beer earlier, I get to my gate to find a Brooklyn Brewery at my gate. I give in and have a Pilsner for $7.38; expensive, but really good stuff. I drink it slowly and listen to conversations around me. As I’m leaving three Russians order shots of Smirnoff. After the bartender pours the pathetic $8.40 shots, they ask for doubles and water, how much more Russian do you get (their bill was $50 for 3 drinks). I paid the bartender and just left him the change, not in a big tip mood. Now here I sit in this hard chair next to the gate, listening to music for the soundtrack of August Rush, which is fantastic (the movie and the music). If you want to hear something amazing w/ a guitar, listen to Bari Improv by Kaki King, but the entire album is worth it. Well, I have an hour and 40 min before we board, so I might try to brush up on the dismal Chinese skills that I have. Haha, never mind, my podcasts are saved to my computer and there are 13 of them. Oh well, I’ll just pick up the language while I’m there, lol.

Ciao!

P.S. Does a 7 hr layover qualify as being in a country if I go outside the airport?