My Time in the States

I’ve been back in the states twice now since I first got to China in August, and it recently occurred to me that there is no real reason why I can only talk about traveling in Asia on this blog, so here goes…

Trip 1: 10/17-28

When I was back in October, I spent five days on each coast, first in Providence/New York, then in Portland.  The trip to the east coast was an unexpected treat as a thank-you from work for staying in China an extra few weeks.  Luckily, my time there coincided with a gorgeous fall weekend, and Ethan and I took the scenic route back from New York to Providence.  Here are a few pictures of the gorgeous fall leaves of New England along  the Merrit Parkway:

Back in Portland, my friends and I tried to cram as much hangout time as possible in five days.  It was a ton of fun, but definitely exhausting as well.  My most recent recipe for these long flights back to Portland is to stay up the entire night before I fly, so I can sleep on the plane.  I had been joking with my friends about staying up all night Saturday with me, but I never actually expected them to do it!  We weren’t all entirely successful, but it really meant a lot to me to have such an awesome group of friends to even try.

Friends Who Attempted to Stay Up with me: Note Francis is Actually Awake

On my flight back, I captured some pictures of the pollution in Beijing from the air.  Pretty nasty if you ask me…

Trip 2: 11/21-12/3

For my second trip back, I got to spend Thanksgiving with my entire family.  This was the first time that we were all in one place since my sister’s wedding in July 2011, and it was really nice to see everyone together.

From left to right, top to bottom: Grandma Judy, Hal (her boyfriend), Dad (Jeff), Stacie (Dad's fiance), Erin (sister), Jay (brother-in-law), Ethan, Mom (Marsha), Manny (brother), Sue (aunt), me, Heike (Sue's friend from Germany), and Pat (uncle/Sue's husband) 

Following my 5 days in New York, I spent a week in Portland, though I was unsure when I’d be leaving when I arrived.  During this time, some friends and I found a potential group house for when I return, and Caitlin* hosted a Christmas tree decorating party as my sendoff.  Again, all of my friends tried to stay up the night with me to keep me awake.  Unfortunately, this plan was foiled by United screwing me over the next day…more on that later.  It was really awesome to decorate a tree, as I hadn’t done so since I was a kid.  Thanks to Caitlin for making that happen!

Using a Makeshift Plumb Line to get the Tree Straight

Step One: Lights!

Tree Complete with Beer and Port Underneath

*Caitlin deserves a huge shout out as she is serving as my residence right now.  Not only does she collect and deal with my mail and packages, but she hosts me when I’m in town, cooks me food, plans gatherings, and is an all-around awesome friend!

On Sunday morning, after intentionally staying up all night, I went to the airport for my last round trip to China of my 6-month assignment.  I was supposed to be flying PortlandàSan FranciscoàHong Kong.  When I checked in, I was told the flight to SF was delayed and to keep an eye out to make sure I wouldn’t miss my connection.  Then it would be my decision to risk it, go to SF, and potentially have to spend the night or rebook the entire trip for the next day.

At the gate, when the flight delay changed from about half hour to over an hour, I got in line to talk to the agents (my layover was only 1.5 hours).  I was exhausted and ready to sleep, so standing in line itself took some effort.  When I got to the front, the agent said she could re-book on an itinerary that went PortlandàSeattleàTokyoàHong Kong and would only get me in two hours later than planned, so I went with it.

It wasn’t until I was on the flight to Seattle that I realized my new itinerary had a 20-minute layover in Seattle to get to the Tokyo flight.  We landed a few minutes early in Seattle, I was the first one off the plane, the gate to the Tokyo flight was right next-door, and I STILL didn’t get there in time.  They had closed the gate only a few minutes before I got there, the plane was still there, and I was livid.  The agents at the desk said that they are supposed to leave at least a 35-minute layover, and that United Express had to pay for me to stay overnight to fly out the next day…

After much discussion with the United Express agent, I decided to be flown back to Portland and then resume the entire route the next day (I am currently on a plane to Tokyo writing this).  Unfortunately, I was told my bag had taken the San Francisco route, so I didn’t have my clothes with me.  As it turns out, my bag WAS actually in Seattle, so I probably could have gotten it and taken it back with me if I’d been given proper information.

I guess one should expect at least one issue with flights when I’m doing this much travelling…

On the plus side, this re-booking means that I am awake and not sleeping on this flight (I couldn’t stay up two nights in a row), so you all get a bunch of blog updates.

On to my last 6 weeks in China before my glorious return to Portland…