Flight to Asia, Part 1

This won’t get posted for a while, but I thought I would write something while I’m waiting.  I’m finally done with Provo!  Just in time, too.  I conducted the hymn for devotional last week, and when President Samuelson introduced Ruth and me, he said my hometown was Provo, UT!  What?!  I know my address is listed as Provo, but I thought my hometown said Kuala Lumpur or Severna Park.  Anyway, when even Cecil thinks you’re from Provo, it’s time to get out.  I’m not officially graduated, but I took my last finals Wednesday and Thursday and I only have to apply for graduation sometime while I’m in China.  I have no idea if I’ll be back to walk for graduation, but right now I don’t really care.  It’s just a ceremony, and all the important people in my life came to my senior recital anyway, which I felt was the apex of my undergraduate degree.

Right now I’m sitting in the Los Angeles International Airport; I left Provo at 6:15 am after less than 4 hours of sleep and many hours of cleaning and packing before that.  I’m grateful for the people who came to say goodbye; I’ve always been of the opinion that good friends are better than many friends, and I have been blessed with good friends.  Jonathan and Beth drove me to the airport (well, I’m actually the one who drove, since Beth was sleeping in the back and Jonathan had gotten less than an hour of sleep after cleaning and moving out all night), and my flight here was uneventful.

I have way too much stuff!  I’m going to have to leave some in Kuala Lumpur, because my big suitcase weighs 66 lbs and the smaller one 46 lbs.  I have a brick of a carry-on duffel bag and a fairly heavy backpack.  On top of that, Southwest doesn’t check through to other airlines, so I had to pick up my luggage here and then check it in on China Eastern to Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur.  It’s not easy to pack for a year – I culled things at least three separate times, and finally it all fit.  Jonathan graciously took what didn’t make the cut, including an umbrella, a shoehorn, a shoulder bag, and some Red River cereal, of all things.  I had to pay a $50 overweight fee on Southwest and $25 on China Eastern.  I’ve found that airlines overseas are much more lenient with heavy luggage – Southwest made me pay $0.086 a mile, or 31 times more for the distance than China Eastern’s $0.0028!

So I’m sitting at the gate, and my flight has been delayed.  It was supposed to leave for Shanghai at 12:30, and now it will begin boarding at 2:00.  Apparently there’s been inclement weather in Shanghai.  I was to have had a four-hour layover in Shanghai, so I’ll still catch my connecting flight, barring some other obstacle.  I get in to Kuala Lumpur at 1 in the morning, after a long two days.  More later.