A Long Way From Where We’re Going

Dearest Rachel –

I set my alarm this morning for five o’clock, and woke up almost exactly at four, instead. That’s what comes of going to bed at only a little after eight, I suppose. It gave me a little extra time to get myself pulled together – including writing you (or rather, commenting on what you’d written long ago) – without feeling too frantic about the whole process.

On the subject of Daniel, while he was sleeping in near-perfect peace until I woke him just before six, he’s still dealing with pre-flight jitters. It’s not that he has any fear of flying (at least, no more than you ever did, and you never let on until our rail trip to San Antonio and elsewhere), but the whole issue of timing. So much has to be thrown together at the last minute that he feels he won’t be able to relax until we’re actually on the plane – or at least, once we’re through check-in and security. In short, we’re a long way from where I’d like to be, in terms of being comfortable about traveling by air to this place or that.

In the meantime, while we’re waiting for our Uber, I grab myself a little breakfast; finishing off the last toaster pastry in the box as well as frying up the leftover potstickers from Thursday evening. I offer something to Daniel, but as you probably remember, he’s rarely awake at this hour to eat anyway, and in any case, those travel nerves aren’t exactly conducive to a hearty appetite. For my part, I’m not so ravenous as all that myself, but these things ought to be used up, rather than left to go bad. Besides, I ought to take my vitamins with at least a little bit of food (and while I’m at it, I have to assemble the next three weeks’ worth of those daily doses for the trip).

Logan gets up to see us off, too; not entirely intentionally, but like me, he’s up before his alarm goes off. This a an unusual moment for him, too, no matter how much I’d like to make these things a routine experience. I don’t really have a lot of last-minute instructions for him; I figure that, as long as things continue the way they usually do on a day-to-day basis, things will be just fine.

Meanwhile, I poke my head into the kitchen to see if our ride has shown up; it shouldn’t have, as it’s a quarter to seven, and I’d scheduled it to show up at five minutes after (which would still get us there more than three hours before our flight takes off). But lo and behold, there it is; between it being fairly early on a Sunday morning, and cloudy and rainy, there’s not the traffic our driver had budgeted for. I lug all the suitcases out (oh, so that’s why it’s called ‘luggage’!) while Daniel hits the bathroom one last time, and once he joins us, we’re on our way even before seven, arriving by about a quarter after. Plenty of time to get sorted out before boarding.

And a good thing, too. I had been under the impression from both the cruise line and Copilot that our airline allowed for two suitcases and a carry-on as part of even the economy class ticket, but upon showing up to check those bags, we were informed that the second bag would require an added charge; not quite as bad as the one we’d dealt with at Narita for the size of Daniel’s one case, but when doubled for both of our bags, it rather adds up. Then again, considering our portfolio, most such transactions can be considered trifling, from a certain perspective. It was even mildly amusing when no fewer than four attendants gathered around the terminal, as they seemed to be having computer issues processing these charges for us.

Still, lesson learned; don’t trust those claims that you can bring as much as you want, or if you do, be prepared to pay for it. Another nuisance – but at this point, what else could we do?

So it goes, though. We’ve made it through the checkpoint, a little bit poorer for the experience, but we are through, with plenty of time to fill you in on it all. We’re still a long way away from where we’re going, but at least we’re on our way.

Until we get there (wherever “there” is, on a physical or metaphorical sense), I’d appreciate it if you’d keep an eye on us, and wish us well. We’re going to need it, after all.