Thursday

Coming off yesterday's recognition of my burgeoning feelings of familiarity with my new (ish) hometown, I'd like to ironically (ish) announce that I bought tickets home for the first time after what will have been about six months by the time I board. A twenty-four hour fly-day over twelve time zones needs to be planned in advance, something I meant to do before the end of January and just never managed. What's so hard about it? Buying airfare has become simpler since online ticket sales became the norm, and yet it takes so long to compare prices from different carriers and tweak arrival and departure dates to haggle up the best price. I entertained the idea of flying Royal Thai Air (because it is my favorite airline right now) but that would have stranded me in New York. It would have cost more too, though the difference would have been worth it for the legroom and the better food. I entertained flying Korean just for the layover in Seoul and an extra stamp in my passport. I finally decided that I'd fly on crappy United in the hope that I can convince them to upgrade me to a better travel class since I have so many frequent flier miles. I listed myself as an "Indian Vegetarian" in hope of getting better food. Wish me luck on that. The process of selecting my itinerary took me three hours. I'll be getting on the plane here at Tân Sơn Nhất Airport shortly after dawn Monday, April twenty-eighth, and I'll arrive in North Carolina shortly before eleven pm that very same evening after twenty-seven hours of collected in-flight and layover durations--according to schedule. Wish me luck on that, too. I will be in the US for almost exactly one month. [Cavin]