If the start of this trip is any indication of how it will be, then I’m in luck. So far the karma has been great. (I do realize in announcing my good fortune I potentially thoroughly jinx myself.) After zipping through the clear highways outside of Taipei on the way to Taoyuan Airport and making it in record time (35 minutes), I arrived at the Cathay Pacific line, only to breeze through that, hand the flight agent my Marco Polo club card, and hear these glorious words:
“I’m sorry, but Economy class is full, so we’re going to have to upgrade you to Business class.”
So very not sorry to hear that, I tried to contain my excitement. Acting casual, as if I am upgraded to Business class every day, I strove for a noncholant expression.
“Oh,” I said. “That sounds fine.”
Whhipppppeeeee!!!!
Granted, the flight to Hong Kong is a mere hour and a half, but what a time it will be! If the rumors about Business class are true, then I am shortly to be showered with beverages, smiles, and pillows as I step onto the plane. Ah, the joy.
So, hoping that I’m not jinxing myself, it’s been a great morning so far. Ann has been here the past week, reawakening my awareness of Taiwanese culture. Having visitors, no matter where you live, allows you to put on new lenses, seeing your home-of-the-moment with the eyes of an outsider. So very used to Taiwan at this point, Ann pointed out all the things I noticed when I first got here, plus some others. A few:
-Motorscooters galore
-Easy and efficient transportation
-How helpful people are and how giving of personal space
-The “Fur Elise” theme of the trash trucks
-The yummy Chinese food
-The wonderful and awful strangeness of the expat world
Now we are off to China. We start out with China “lite” (Taiwan), go to Hong Kong on the first leg of the travel (not really China) and then move onto the mainland. Over the next three weeks, we’ll be visiting Guangzhou, Guilin, Yangshou, Dali, Lijiang, Chengdu, Yangtze River, Huang Shan, Shanghai and Beijing. Whew.
We have a general itinerary set, two internal flights booked, and a three-day cruise of the Yangtze River set. Other than that, we have no hotels booked, no train tickets bought, no bus tickets found. This is probably the least amount of planning I’ve ever done for a trip. It feels freeing. It also feels terrifying.
Ann and I will be together which will help with the anxiety. But there will undoubtedly be a number of mini-disasters, and I should expect them. But if somehow the upgrade is any indication, it will eventually all work out – perhaps in unanticipated, wonderful ways.
