Resonant Constellation

Day 0: Travel 12/24/2009
10:44 AM (AZ), 9:44 AM (CA), 7:44 AM (HI)

As I sit here in the spectacular and dazzling Tucson International Airport, slowly forcing some so-called “Mango Chunks,” (these taste…green. Even though they’re yellow…) into my reluctant stomach, I find I actually have some time to collect myself from this morning’s hectic activities. You might say that I woke up at around 9:00 AM to take a shower, and you’d technically be right. However, in reality, I also woke up at 3 AM, 5 AM, and 6 AM during a long and restless night. It seems my upstairs neighbor decided to stomp around his apartment at all hours of the night, then take a shower at 6 AM for no apparent reason. Wonderful.

This horribleness was compounded by a seemingly perpetually sour stomach which started several days ago and simply refuses to abate. The “mangoes” this morning were a bid to settle it, since I seemed to be craving some fruit. Even though these “mangoes” were horrible, I take solace in the fact that soon I will be in a place with some truly excellent fruit. Maybe I’ll get some real mangoes when I get there. The real kicker is that I usually don’t even like mangoes.

While reading through my old Australia Travelogue (written nearly a year ago, which in itself is mind-boggling), I noticed that we flew over Hawaii on our way out, and I mentioned that it was a place which I badly wanted to visit. I would never have guessed that I’d be going there only a year later. I think that I should continue this tradition of flying far to the south-west of where I live next year and visit New Zealand. I can dream, can’t I?

In any case, my friend Doug picked me up around 10 this morning and dropped me off at the airport. After a relatively quick check-in and security process (made only slightly longer by one or two inexperienced travelers and one extremely pushy woman), I came to my usual ‘flying out of Tucson’ gate, A6. For some reason, I always get this one, no matter where I’m going. Being an experienced flyer (I’ve averaged about 7 flights a year for the last four years), I’m always amazed when I hear that grown people are flying for only their first or second time ever (example: my friend Doug has been on an airplane once that he remembers). I don’t think of it as a novel experience anymore-an incredible one, to be sure, but not anything special. I suppose my several trans-oceanic flights make me rather more unique as well. I know very few people (outside the ones who have taken these trips with me) who have flown across both the Pacific and the Atlantic.

So, dear constant reader, that’s where I’ll leave you for now. I’ve got about half an hour before boarding my first plane of the day-a minor flight to LAX before setting off on the real adventure. I’ll next update when something interesting happens.
LJS-11:10 AM (Tucson)