June 19, 2012 / Day 1: Zero More Sleeps to Go...
5:00AM: So here we go. I am awake, I've got Rocket Man in my head, and I'm grossly unfulfilled by my 2-hour power nap after leaving packing to the last minute as usual. China, here we come! (But really, first LA, then 5.5 hour layover, then China.) I'm off to meet Tim, Renan, June, Nicole, and Xuefeng at Logan Airport. Anne and Elyse will join us in LA. Lily, Vince, and Jo are traveling together and will be flying to Shanghai from Vancouver. Melissa and Pat are traveling solo. Please God, let there be no babies on my flight this morning. Alright, let's get this road on the show!
P.S. My internet access may be spotty, but I'll try to keep up to date on the posts.
P.S. My internet access may be spotty, but I'll try to keep up to date on the posts.
10:00AM-ish Pacific Time: Ahh California, home of sunshine, hippies, this guy, and people who feel sorry for us East Coasters because they themselves can't survive in 70°F weather. For many years, I've been convinced that the heart rate of the average Californian is 1 beat per 10 minutes. It's like they're all walking around in a coma. Speaking of which, our own animal style-lovin' Californian Tim Hou had his mind focused on food from the minute we landed in Los Angeles and insisted we must must must go get In-N-Out Burger during our layover at LAX. Unfortunately, getting to the LAX In-N-Out was really kind of a bitch. Tim, Renan, June, Nicole, Xuefeng, and I took a bus from the airport, hiked across a highway, literally scaled a wall (some of us, twice) all for a little bite of Fast Food Heaven. I also didn't check my bags, so I was carrying everything you see above the whole time. Was it worth the trouble in the end? Not if you're Renan, whose reaction to his first In-N-Out was: "I think Wendy's is better." -_____________________________-
2:00PM: We made it back to the American Airlines terminal and settled in to wait out our departure at Gate 43. Anne and Elyse soon joined us and brought with them a box of DONUTS!!! Then it got boring again... until we spotted... maybe another dragon boat team?! They're young. Honestly, they look like kids, and they scream and laugh and slap and shove each other just like I did in 1st grade. I tried to a sneak a photograph of their antics, but it felt weird, and since we weren't in China yet, my I-don't-give-shit attitude hadn't fully kicked in. When they all left to forage for food, leaving only one of them (Larry) to guard their bags, I went over and learned that they are in fact a mixed college team made up of members from UCLA, USC, and UC Irvine. We would see much more of them in the days to come, including sharing a bus and tent space with them at the race site in Jiaxing. But in all seriousness, they were a wonderful and energetic bunch.
Pre-flight and In-flight: I've realized that I'm a truly terrible photographer. In our entire first day of traveling, I snapped all of two photos with my camera. They're the first two below. The rest are from my 2.0 megapixel cell phone cam. I didn't even take one of our team! Gotta step it up.
An addition from Tim, taken just before we boarded our flight:
Now here are some additional photos of pretty clouds.
Today's Numbers:
Miles traveled: 10,935
Hours traveled: um... I've lost track
Number of happy In-N-Out customers: 5 out of 6
Average age of UC team: ~14?
Number of movies featured on the flight: 20-ish
Number of movies that were good: 2, maybe 3
Miles traveled: 10,935
Hours traveled: um... I've lost track
Number of happy In-N-Out customers: 5 out of 6
Average age of UC team: ~14?
Number of movies featured on the flight: 20-ish
Number of movies that were good: 2, maybe 3