Well the day has finally arrived. Terri and I are sitting in the Maple Leaf lounge of the Toronto airport enjoying comfy chairs, free food/drink, free wi-fi and all the comforts that traveling first class brings you. For me, perhaps, the best part is the free wi-fi. YAY Internet! Man, it's kind of sad that free wi-fi makes me happy. :)
Getting to Toronto last night was fine. Thankfully the screaming annoying kids I kept trying to avoid at O'Hare were sitting in the back of the plane so the only thing I really had to deal with was the poor puppy in cargo barking right before take off and after landing. Poor little guy. I wouldn't want to fly in cargo either. And for perhaps the first time ever, if not in a really long time, I was quite happy with my seat-mate. If I remember correctly his name was Randy and although he was probably a few years short of 50 he was a joy to talk to. In the hour we had in the air we talked about everything from where we were from/going to, the travels ahead of us, and what we do for a living. An outsider probably would have thought we were old friends from the way we kept going on and on. In fact the flight attendant thought we were traveling together and only offered us one customs form.
Randy, an MRI tech who taught me all about how they work, was a cool guy. He had been traveling all day from Alaska (thru Juno, Seattle and then Chicago) on his way here to Toronto where he's beginning a 3 week bicycle trip through the country, eventually ending in Boston where he'll fly home. All he had with him was a single small duffel bag (that included a tent in it) and his bike, both to which he checked. He was doing the entire journey by himself, I couldn't believe it. He's biked all over the US/Canada like that for the past 10 years. And where I found myself a little green with envy that he can just take off like that and go, he was totally jealous that I would be 1/2 way around the world in only a few short hours. It was kind of funny.
This morning Terri and I basically got up, lounged around for a little bit, finished packing up and then grabbed lunch at the hotel restaurant before hoping on the airport tram to Terminal 1. After a smooth executive first class check in, and an uber smooth security check (didn't have to take my shoes or my coat off), we find ourselves comfortably relaxing. In approximately 2 hours we'll start the boarding process for our 13 hour journey to China. Crazy. I still can't believe I'll be in China by tomorrow afternoon. And for the few of you who knew how nervous I had been, let's just say I'm much much better now. Like I said, as soon as I made it thru customs, got to the hotel and saw Terri when she opened the room door, all of those nerves went out the window. I actually got a full nights sleep. :)
So in case this is the last time I post for a day or so b/c of the whole plane ride and all, happy 4th of July to all of you in the States. Eat a hot dog and watch some fireworks for me.
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