Slow Boat to China

Well, not a boat exactly, but a fairly slow trip. :) I left Tampa on a Thursday evening and flew to Atlanta where I would board my flight to China (via Korea). When I checked my bags, I knew that one of them was going to be over the weight limit. I was just going to pay the extra and be done with it. But the lady at the counter helped me find some some space in the other bag and shift things around a bit. After putting what we could where we could, my bag was still overweight by three pounds. But through the repacking, the lady had seen my teaching books, told me that she was once a teacher too, and with a wink, let my 53 pound bag slide through. PTL!!When I got to my gate, I was told that the flight would be completely full and I would have to check my rolling carry-on to my final destination. Checking a bag at the gate makes me a little nervous, and the thought of it making three transfers (two of them being overseas) made me even more nervous, but I had no other choice. I just trusted that HE would take care of it, and got on the plane. The flight was horrible, and I'm not a huge fan of flying anyway. We dipped and rose up and shook side to side. The hour and a half flight couldn't end soon enough. When I got off the plane I felt queasy and didn't feel like boarding a 13 hour flight after that. I had a three hour layover in Atlanta, so I walked around the International Terminal trying to clear my head, settle my stomach, and get some air. You know, as much fresh air as you can get in an airport. After a while I felt fine and was hungry, so I got my last meal in America; Arbys!! Yum! :)

Time to board the plane! As I walked reluctantly (or should I say enviously!) through the spacious and comfortable first class, I found my window seat in the economy section. A Vietnamese lady sat down in the aisle seat so there was an empty seat between us. The doors closed and as we prepared to take off, I was delighted to realize that the seat was going to remain empty. The Vietnamese lady and I smiled at each other and we were both happy for a little extra room. When we got to the altitude where we could take off our seat belts, the lady stood up and moved a couple of rows ahead where there was a completely empty row! She said she was going to move up there and I almost cried tears of joy when I realized that I would have the whole row TO MYSELF!! That never happens to me!! And here I was, fortunate enough to have all this space on an international flight! PTL!! For once in my life, I was thankful to be short because I could stretch almost completely out and lay fairly comfortably across the seats. Since I had been awake for almost 24 hours, I was asleep in no time. When I woke up about 5 hours later, I felt rested but still tired. I didn't want to sleep too much and ruin my chances of beating jet lag once I got to Qingdao, but I really wanted to take advantage of having all three seats! So I popped in a Tylenol PM, and went back to sleep! :) I woke up with about an hour and a half of the flight left. Just in time for a meal (I slept through the other one!), and one movie. I landed safely and smoothly in Korea, got a little something for breakfast, and boarded my last flight of the trip. It was about 8:30 AM on Saturday morning when I arrived in Qingdao and was relieved to see that all of my luggage made it too. PTL!!

All in all, it was a very smooth journey. The long flight was the best I've ever had. I still had jet lag, but being able to sleep comfortably and stretch out made it all worth it! From the overweight luggage to the empty seats, I know that HE was watching over me. :)