Here we go again

Friday, February 03, 2012

Wake up. That’s not your alarm. It’s your destiny calling.
Somehow I’d managed to sleep all night on the eve of the first day of the rest of my life; despite how many reasons I had to stay up. And for the first time in maybe forever, my eyes accepted the light flooding into my room when they opened. But I still don’t think the sun had really hit me yet.

My whole life fit neatly into 1 checked bag and 2 carry-ons. They say bring half of what you think you need and twice as much money. Hopefully I’ve gotten the equation right…

After checking to make sure I had everything, I ate my last “home cooked meal” with the company of 2 and a Half Men (as in the show…) and awaited my ride to the airport. Gena cheerily showed up with a delicious smoothie/fruit & granola wonderland in a cup. It was nice to have such a good pretend mom. After bidding her adieu, I began my check in but was greeted with an error message which required me to go to the desk. “Do you have a visa for Argentina?” “No…but their student visa process is kind of obscure so this is normal.” “…And you don’t have a returning flight from Argentina?” “No…there weren’t any flights listed as far out as December, which is when I return.” After furiously typing away on her computer, she asked for a few documents to confirm my status—all of them being the emergency “you probably won’t need these, but if you do, damn you’d better have them” documents I had printed the night before at my friend’s place (Aaron, you’re my savior!). She sighed with almost as much relief as I did when she told me I was good to go. I fluttered off to security not noticing that something I’ve loved for 21 years fell off my backpack…

Security was feeling pretty secure until I realized that my security blanket was gone. Literally. My baby blanket was nowhere to be found. It was strapped to my backpack, how did it fall off!? Thinking I would have noticed it falling off, I called Gena to ask if it had fallen out in her car. Nope. Maybe this was supposed to be a breaking point, a sign that it was time to give up the blanket…AND LET IT GET THROWN AWAY AND DIE ALONE AT A FREAKING AIRPORT?! Over my dead body (because I will probably be buried with my blanket…). Luckily, about 5 seconds after I asked Gena about its status, I heard someone in line talking about a blanket. “Yeah, it was just on the ground. Must have fallen out of someone’s stroller or something. That baby will be so sad without its blankie!” Wait a minute—“I’M THAT BABY!!! Where is it? Did they throw it away?” And after a burst of laughter from everyone in line, I was informed it was at the Southwest desk. I’M COMING FOR YOU, NIBBLES!! I’M SORRY I ALMOST LEFT WITHOUT YOU!! And you can judge me about having a baby blanket (or two, because yeah, there’s two of them, but I left Bits at home…) but what’s a sleepy princess without her scepter and crown of cuddly dreams?

Despite the rocky start, things smoothed out and I faced no troubles through SLC and on to LAX. But if you know anything about LAX and me, you know it’s a very strained relationship. I was expecting the worse as I disembarked from flight 2261, but this time I actually knew where I was going, because it happened to be the same exact route I took when I flew to Seoul. I knew how to get to Korean Airlines and this time I got there without sweating profusely (ok, I was kinda sweaty). There was no line at the ticket counter and no line at security—I’d like to think it was travel karma I’d earned from my previous experience. I even got a meal at my gate for less than $10—which is a miracle by any airport food pricing standards. After being stared down by an endearing little Brazilian with braces for an hour and a half, I took my seat on Korean Air flight 61. It still hadn’t hit yet…