Eva Air

It is January 2011 and as usual I am writing from the sky, only this time not on my way to San Francisco or San Diego for business travel but rather to Indonesia for pleasure. There is something about the hum of the plane and the easily accessible tray that make it a comfortable scenario that lures me to journal.

Why am I flying to Indonesia you ask, why the heck not?! It was in 2005 that I last travelled internationally and that is far too long my friends, far too long! I decided a few years back to award myself EVERY birthday for making it another year in this rat race world we call adulthood AND THIS YEAR I am taking myself to visit my dear friend Wilx and her husband MT in Indonesia where they live and teach English.

For anyone who has made the trek it is quite the journey getting there! Two flights and if you are lucky, which I happen to be in this circumstance, only a small two hour layover totaling a whopping 24 hours travel duration. My flight left Seattle at 1:00am which is perfect because WHO can sleep when they are headed to Asia for a MUCH needed third world adventure aka vacation to visit one of your best homies?! Not this girl, that’s who!

A 1:00am departure means I get to let the energy run its course before I crash and sleep it off for the first 14 hour flight! I was set with sleeping meds provided by my dear friend but the unfailing voice of my mother played nervously in my head that medication is not the answer and so I plan to try and make it as long as I can without it.

Packing for this trip was much different than my last globetrotting adventure. For one, I’m sans cruise ship to call home and missing 2,000 students to call roommates. Instead I am travelling as a sole ranger and only have a backpack full of clothes to last me 7 days when I am going to be gone for 20. Call me crazy but I couldn’t be more pumped to lug my gear around on back. I am curious to see what these 11s can actually carry, sort of a put up or shut up kind of thing, if you know what I mean. Ha.

I didn’t know what to expect boarding the plane since last time I flew internationally it was the Vegas of air packed with bingo games where prizes were designer purses. Hot washcloths were presented before and after every meal for your to freshen up and in-your-seat photo ops, stick your head through this giant poster board hole and you look like a japanamation character kept you entertained through the nine hour flight. I am most definitely hoping for the hot washcloth routine again.

When selecting my seat arrangement I was given the option of upstairs or down. I debated this with my brother and it was decided that if I didn’t choose the upstairs I would be sitting downstairs the whole time wondering what the upstairs was all about. Not exactly sure what I imagined to find up there as now that I am here it looks pretty standard, three seats to a row, one aisle down the middle, windows line the walls and bins overhead BUT the irony in it all is that as I sit upstairs, I am wondering what DOWNSTAIRS looks like?! Go figure.

As I am settling into my seat and noticing my row is empty, a thought starts to teases me am I going to get the whole row to…, I don’t finish the thought, wouldn’t want to jinx myself. After a few more minutes the plane starts to wiggle and the propellers start to purr, I know what this means, I look to my left and the row is still WIDE open, I KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS, WORD! Without hesitation I shove the arm rests up, stretch my legs across the rows, spread out the blanket and plump the pillows that I have commandeered from the other seats and build myself a throne fit for princess and the pea.

I have mentally prepared myself for a flight of hell so to my surprise a pillow throne, infinite free wine and a copious amount of snack deliveries by the flight attendant in her charming pink apron makes for the feeling of a 5 star luxury hotel in the sky. Let’s not even get started on the meals, OK let’s, “pork with noodles or fish with rice?” Um, let’s try the pork with noodles. One bite had me sold and I all but licked my plate before I inhaled the most delicious, tiny dessert and washed it down with wine. After a meal like that a stretch and stomach rub are in order. As my brother would say, what 5 star chef do they have back there?! The sad thing is I wish I could blame it on the early morning hours, lack of sleep, nerves, WINE, anything but I couldn’t be more dead serious when I say it was that good.

Fighting off an EVA Air food coma, I am struggling to keep my eyes open. I decide to read, rookie mistake. I lasted all off an hour, IF?! To my defense the flight didn’t take off until 1:40am PST and for those of you who don’t know me, you put me in any moving craft, be it vehicle or airplane and I won’t be able to stay awake. I am thirty minutes into the ride and acting like I haven’t slept for weeks. Let’s not forget the amazing “king size bed fluffy pillows” that I have.

In the battle of sleep, Lynnsey zero, sleep 1.