Getting to Taiwan

Monday 16 March 2009 17:47 CET

So begins my travel journal to Taiwan.

Got to the airport very early. I was hoping to get checked in all the way to Taipei. At least my bags are checked in all the way. It is too early to check in from Hong Kong to Taipei.

Now I'm bored. Already. I haven't even boarded the first plane. Let alone the long-haul 12-hour job to Hong Kong. I have no book. I don't know if I have patience for a book.

In this wing of the airport are all non-Shengan European flights. So I have lots of Slavs and lots of Brits.

I should try to consider the journey as part of the vacation.

17 March 2009 07:32 UTC -- Somewhere over mainland China

Long-haul flights are miserable. It was about 4 hours into a 12 hour flight that I realized how much I hate this. I could not get comfortable. A couple of people were coughing. Some kids were crying. I could not get my backside comfortable in the chair, I could not get my back comfortable, I could not find a way to get my head and neck comfortable.

I think it was sheer fatigue that enabled me to doze off for a few hours. At least, I think it was a few hours. I hope it was. I watched Batman Begins on the screen in front of me. Actually, as an action flick, it's pretty good. I realized that sometimes I am just a typical boy. I liked the action flick.

Anyway, After Batman and a meal, I had some rest, if you can call it that. Certainly not sleep, not in any meaningful sense. In one stage of being unable to sleep, I watched the American version of Creature Comforts. I never saw the original in the UK. It was entertaining. Afterwards, I think I needed to sleep.

I managed some again, though not for nearly as long as I would have liked. I really don't like cattle class. But I can't see myself ever flying business class or first class. Not that I don't ever want to. Just that I'll never be able to afford it, have enough frequent flyer miles, or be an executive at a company that can still afford higher class of flight service.

In Heathrow, I didn't have a lot of time, actually. I got a couple of books. They didn't have any of the books I wanted. The shop in Edinburgh is so much better. I got a Stephanie Plum book. I started reading that on the flight. I got it so I could leave it for Shane. He enjoys her stories. The other book I got was book 7 in a space opera. I hope I can get into it so late in the series. If so, that will be another series we can start collecting.

I chose it because it was £20 for the two books, instead of £13 for the one. I don't have the patience to read such a tome any more. Something has definitely changed in my life.

Breakfast is about to be served. I would love to stay on and write some more. Or even watch some of the TV shows I downloaded. But the power supplied to the seat doesn't seem to work with my charger. Pity. At least I have a pretty good charge, still.

More when I land, proabably in Taipei (as opposed to Hong Kong, where I'm about to land). I hope I can find an Irish pub for St. Patrick's day, but I don't think the Celts got as far as southeast Asia, unless they were in the uniform of the British sovereign.

Image from Hong Kong's new airport. It was fascinating to see a bit Hong Kong from the air. From what I understand, though, it's not nearly as breathtaking as landing at the old airport, where the wing tips were 10cm from hi-rise apartment buildings. Still, I think I might visit Hong Kong one day.