Getting There - Aneel's Travelogue

I'm really gone. The vending machines want $35 for a can of tea (NT$).

The flight reminded me of when I was a kid. I'd forgotten how big airplanes are, and it's not just a matter of perspective The 747-400 is enormous. Flights, which have seemed short since I leared the knack of sleeping through them (the trick is mostly sleep deprivation because you're packing the night before) are long again. Even with an eight hour nap, there were long stretches of time to fill. I'm halfway through my book. Another difference that recalls the days of old: they were servicng food. Two meals! They were pretty aggressive about serving dinner: they turned the cabin lights back on full blast and insisted that everyone raise their seats. I'd had a burrito with Dave and Jenny before they gave me a ride to the airport (after a brief stop at Kinkos to print off a few pages of the wiki that I realized I'd forgotten), so I slept through dinner. I had rice porridge with Chinese sausage for breakfast.

It's eerie, flying over the Pacific at night. Pitch blackness, with nothing in sight. We passed over one set of lit islands while I was awake. Japan? Taiwan seemed small. The highways and streets scaled larger than I expected. Perhaps there was more of the island that was hidden by the mist when we landed.