So I had all these plans to take pictures of everything that’s in my pack, look up all these places that I could visit while I stay in Bangkok for 2 weeks waiting for Samantha, print out these little things that I won’t be able to access over there…and none of it happened. I feel like my backpack weighs a ton, and I was trying to keep it under 20 lbs, and I’ve taken away everything that can be taken away. I haven’t looked up anything, I guess I will just explore Bangkok on my own. Unfortunately, I waited too long to book a hostel, and the cheap one that I was looking so forward to had no availability! So I chose another one, and they didn’t have availability for the night I’m flying in, so I will be napping it out in Suvarnabhumi until I can check in. These past few days I’ve been helping my mom out with homework, helping Samantha pack her bag, moving my stuff out of her house, buying last minute things and printing and collecting last bits of information, and visiting the people I want to say bye to…and it has been crazy!
Oh, and let me tell you about my night. Samantha and I drove to my mom’s to drop off my car and my stuff, ate with her and her husband, just catching up. We planned on going out with a large group of friends who were all dressed up for Halloween and saying my final good-bye with a bang. First, my friend Chami who was picking us up came pretty late, so we were rushing to get back home. Secondly, her car swayed and bumped SO MUCH, I was freaking out about driving it for a whole hour on the interstate. After much arguments and worried, held-back thoughts, we started crossing the Skyway Bridge; oh you know, the big high one that everyone kills themselves off of. Well Chami’s tire decides to rip apart as we near the top and we all scream while the car slides around. Chami had good control of the wheel though, and we pulled over to the side, but if you know how thin the lanes are on the Skyway, you would know that a portion of her car was still in the lane.
Everyone is freaking out (especially Samantha because she is terrified of heights), so I pull her out of the car and sit her in the middle of the top of the Skyway while I call AAA and run across the lane to remove a large portion of Chami’s tire from the road. A few minutes later, FHP comes speeding with full lights and sirens, and skids to a stop next to me. I’m walking back and forth on the top, trying to get signal, and he yells at me if I am in distress. I didn’t understand for a moment, so I told him our vehicle broke down and I’m calling AAA. It turns out either someone called us in or the cameras thought that we stopped in the middle of the bridge to commit suicide, so that was why he seemed so frantic! But we explained the situation and he helped us take Cham’s car all the way to the rest stop to wait for AAA.
So we did not go to the bar and party the night before my trip, I just ended up having a mini heart-attack in the middle of the Skyway. If you know me, you know that after my accident, I am terrified of being in a car accident and the sound of metal crunching into metal and that now I am a terrible backseat driver. I don’t know if this bodes well for my trip, but we ended up going home and my two friends came over to have a quiet night with beers while I finished packing my bag. I’m exhausted but I’m almost too nervous to sleep; it doesn’t feel real yet. It didn’t feel real at lunch saying good-bye to all of my co-workers, it doesn’t feel real packing my bags or saying good-bye to my mom; I keep wondering when it is going to kick in. I will probably start fully realizing it on the plane to Beijing, or maybe sleeping under an escalator in Bangkok’s airport.
Either way, I’m upset that my bag feels terribly heavy and I should probably get some real sleep before I am virtually sleepless on the plane. I don’t know when the next time I’ll get to post, whether it will be in NY or Beijing or Bangkok, but I just want to say good-bye America! I don’t know when I will see you again but I will be thinking of you and all of my friends and family; I just hope I won’t be lonely and sad and want to come home early while I’m there.
I need this.
KZinSEA 