Archive | 9:54 pm

Greetings From the US

13 Jun

Finally by noon, we arrived yesterday after that delayed last leg departure and what a long and tiring trip it has been for us. If I counted from the time we left home for KLIA at six in the evening on Tuesday, and arrived at PDX airport by Wednesday noon in the US, meaning it’s 3.00am Thursday back home (not including the journey thereafter), the total travel time would be 33 hours. And during that time, hardly any good sleep, one can only imagine the tiredness.

The A330 aircraft being readied for the journey

Crying toddler who sat in front of me in the plane could be heard in the Immigration Hall when we all got there. And he cried all the way pass the officers. Poor little fella. Passport clearance was slow because there was only one counter opened for International passport holders but customs was a breeze because we declared everything. When we stepped out to greet our firstborn, all that traveling time and tiredness were forgotten. The family unit was complete again and the heart felt whole. What a feeling!

Then when we stepped out of the terminal, a wave of hot air greeted us. Dang it was hot! 37 degrees. Are we in the US? It felt just like arriving at KLIA only that it’s not but it’s PDX.

Our first stop was Woodburn premium outlet to keep us awake, to walk and adjust to the local time. But it was too hot to walk around outdoors so the outing was shortened. We decided we needed to eat and opted for Jack in the Box. And the premise was equally hot because there was no air-conditioning. Only the bathrooms were air-conditioned but can’t stay in there! Haha…

The food portions were huge especially the chicken fingers! Can’t be fingers when they are so huge as I don’t remember them being this size before from our last US trip. We couldn’t finish and saved them for later.

Jack in the Box

M2 and I succumbed to our tiredness and had a good power nap in the car on the way to Corvallis. But it was still early, and we had to still stay awake, otherwise it would take longer to adjust. The town is typical of any college town and it reminded me of Flagstaff and my college and those dinosaur years.

We settled down quickly, unpacked and made ourselves comfy in her room, big enough for the four of us. But by nine, after dinner we were ready to crash. Might as well for the exciting days ahead await us and we need to adjust and be ready to enjoy ourselves during this time together.

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Anxious Wait

13 Jun

It was so stressful waiting to hear from M2. I was tired, anxiety was eating at me and the headache was kicking in. The body was going into reserve mode to stay calm. We arrived at six whilst she’s due to arrive at 8.35am. Two and a half hours of anxiety instead of a leisurely paced four-hours wait before the next flight.

Because she flew domestic from Dublin to Amsterdam, M2 arrived at a different terminal. So when we finally heard from her, we quickly made our way over to the designated departing gate. Relief and happiness took over when we finally saw her.

There was a delay for the connecting flight to Portland. Instead of departing at 10.00am local time, it was retimed to 10.20am. Further delays saw us eventually taking off at 10.50am. Another long journey ahead but this time there’s no night for us as the flight was scheduled to arrive before noon. I’m so messed up by now with time, time zones, day and night.

I decided to take a painkiller to suppress the headache and try to sleep it off. With the cabin lights dimmed to simulate night, I decided to sleep but the crying toddler in front of me was just too disturbing. On top of that, there were occasions of a foul whiff coming from the front. Stinky diaper! Eewww…

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