The Trip to Get There

Travel is about the people you meet along the way, and the places you see. But especially at the beginning of a trip, it’s just as much about bus tickets and boarding passes and bags in transit.

The day of my departure, I started at 5am with a mad dash for the door. Despite all the planning – I neurotically went through my bags and could tell you where everything resided – the exit from my parents’ house seemed breathless. All the lists in the world wouldn’t have slowed me down. Even the stick-it note on my door, the one that exhorted me not to forget my passport and wallet, barely got a read. And I only just remembered my watch.

I slept my way through most of the morning with eyes wide open. It was enough simply to get there: to hand over my ticket, to board a bus.

There was plenty of time to spare at the airport, which was okay. I could watch this bizarre little city, retentively clean and sterile, and listen to what its transient citizens had to say. A gentleman behind me, for example, had this to say on gender roles:

“Guys have got to take responsibility by the age of 35. They can play around a little bit but, by then, they have to plan their lives. Girls mature earlier, but guys are just... weird.”

Well. Weird or not, I seem to have 6 more years of irresponsibility on my hands.

I finally boarded the plane and took off at 3pm. A lot of things make 14 hours of flying very comfortable: the exit seat with lots of leg room; passable food; movies; music, and; good company in the next seat over. Cathay Pacific provided most of it, but the company came courtesy of a very nice woman whose name escapes me, and who works as a consultant in Hong Kong. We chatted about who we are and what we do, and she told me all about my destination.

The flight was full of fitful sleep and we arrived, bleary-eyed, at Hong Kong International Airport (8pm local time). The simple logistics of travel had given me a focus. Buying tickets, tagging bags – arranging the onward journey – put all the planning and preparation into practice. But now I was tired and very glad to see my friend at the airport. He got me the rest of the way, just for one evening.