Welcome to Southeast Asia Dispatch #1! This edition: Not-Quite-Southeast-Asia-But-Actually-Washington-Heights.
I write to you from our pit-stop in Manhattan, nestled in a cozy couch as the wind howls outside our (lovely host’s) window. Will the seats on our 17 hour flight to Shanghai tomorrow be this comfortable? I can only dream…
But we’re not on that flight yet. No, we’re here, with twenty-four hours in the greatest city in the world (the greatest city in the world! Work!) and getting here, to this seat and this episode of GraceandFrankie, was no easy feat. This morning at 2 am I woke up to a text message letting me know our 7 am flight from Asheville to Newark had been cancelled on account of weather in New York. First of all, the audacity. Second of all, thank goodness for the Internet because within fifteen minutes of my frantic race to my parents’ bedroom, we had a new flight for later that afternoon to LaGuardia.
From Charlotte.
For any non-Ashevillians reading this, that’s about a two hour drive from our homebase in the mountains. Not exactly the twenty minute breeze of a commute we’d planned on. Luckily, Mom and I have a built-in chauffeur (thank you, Dad. You’re the best. Seriously) and by 10 am this morning we were standing outside the Charlotte airport and back on track. I know there were times pre-Google and I also dimly recall them, but frankly, I can’t imagine today happening before the existence of the saving grace that was americanairlines.com (and my mom’s surprisingly relaxed problem solving at 2:15 am).
However, from there things did improve. The flight itself went smoothly, I listened to a lot of Ariana Grande, and my bag didn’t get lost in the unknowable void that is the world of checked baggage, so overall a success. Making our way from LaGuardia to Washington Heights, too, wasn’t too severe a headache (just a lot of sitting on hard MTA plastic seats), and ta-da! Here we are. At long last, here we are. And, unsurprisingly, I’m quite tired, so I’m signing off now. The next time you’ll hear from me, we’ll probably be in Bangkok! Wow. Kind of hard to wrap my mind around. Thanks for following along, and I’ll speak to you soon!
Bye for now,
E
Thank you for graciously sharing about your journey so that we may follow along with you. It's a real treat! Good luck on your 17 hour flight!!!! Don't forget about hip circles and leg stretching (I did it for my 13 hour car ride to OR and I feel it saved me much hardship 😉 (but I was alone in a car 😉 )
-Lily
Mom and I lucked out – we got the whole row to ourselves (aka one free seat) and so managed to actually get some sleep, making the flight much easier than anticipated. But thank you for the tips (perhaps the flight home..?) and I’m so glad you’re enjoying reading along! 🙂