Last One

So, this blog was just for my Taiwan trip, and since it is now over, I'm going to write about my journey back and then this is over for me.

I went to bed pretty late on Sunday because I was blogging or something. I tried to load pictures from Natalie's camera onto my computer, but my computer not only doesn't read CDs, it has now decided not to read camera memory cards. So I had to get the cord from Natalie in the morning. I didn't have to leave the preschool until 9:10am, and so I woke up before 7am so I would have plenty of time to pack up the last things and then go down and say good-bye to the teachers and whatever kids were down there in the morning. Well, My computer wouldn't let me choose which pictures to upload, it just loaded all 1283 of them. It took until 9:05am, no joke. The worst part, only the last 200 pictures were even of Taiwan. Since I haven't had a chance to look through them yet to delete the ones I want, I have over a 1000 crappy pictures of Natalie's family. Granted, I should be grateful that Natalie lent me her camera, but I was so upset that I didn't have time to say goodbye to the teachers, I feel like such a jerk.

Joseph (Yuling's husband) drove me to the train station and helped me board the train. He put my small suitcase up above the seat on a shelf, then the large suitcase had to sit on the floor in front of me so that for three hours I had to straddle a very large suitcase while also having my backpack on my lap. Not insanely comfortable, but it was alright. I just read my book the whole time so the trip actually went by pretty fast. Once at the Taipei Main Station I walked outside to the bus stop. I bought my ticket and the bus was already pulled up and getting prepped so we could board. The bus ride went by quickly too (because I was reading).

I got to the airport more then 2 1/2 hours before the flight, but China Airlines let me check in anyway. I was so glad to be able to check my bags in. I managed them well, but it was still best to just get them out of my hands (and in a safe spot). I went and found my gate and then grabbed a bite to eat and walked around and did some last souvenir shopping. The smallest bill I had was a 100 (NT$) but that wasn't going to cover lunch in the airport so I put a 1000 NT$ bill in my wallet. But that meant that I had to spend as much of that as I could because there's no point in taking the money back. I bought a few things and then still had money left and couldn't find anything I wanted. Eventually I ended up buying some mango treat that turned out to not be so great. Oh well.

On the plane I had to sit in a middle seat. But, it was the middle seat in an exit isle, so I had all the leg room I needed (and then some) and I didn't have to crawl over anyone to get out. It was pretty much the best spot on the plane. The flight wasn't terrible, but it wasn't the most enjoyable either. Of course, I kept reading. I tried to get a little sleep, but I'm not good at sleeping in public, nor am I good at sleeping sitting up. So, despite all my efforts, I was unable to get much rest. The lights were still turned off on the airplane and so instead of going back to reading I tried to watch a movie. I tuned in at a bad time because all the movies were 45 minutes or more in. I just spent a long time flipping through. Pretty much all their movies were terrible and I finally decided to watch "Leather Heads" and it sucked. Oh well, it killed almost 2 hours, so it wasn't completely pointless.

The flight came in and I had to clear immigration (or whatever it's called when you're a citizen of the country you landed in) and go and get my bags at the baggage claim. Okay, I don't understand why they couldn't just send them straight through, but I guess that every body on every flight had to pick up their bags. My luggage didn't come until one of the last loads off the plane. People would come in around me, they would spot their bag, I would help them get it off, they would walk away, and I would be left waiting. I helped so many people. That's not a bad thing, and I wasn't in a huge hurry (I had a 3 hour layover), it was just slightly humorous/ironic. It was funny. At one point a girl wasn't able to grab her luggage on time and so I tried to reach for it, but it was in an awkward position and I couldn't get it either. The guy standing behind me then tried to pull it off and ended up pulling off the handle on her suitcase. OOOPPPPSSSS!!!!!

I finally got my luggage and was not looking forward to wheeling it around a whole bunch. What actually happen was worse. There was a massive line up to get out of the baggage claim area. I stood in line for a long time. I was so tired of waiting by then, it was ridiculous. But I made it through and was just following the sign that told me "all connecting flights" and then had an arrow pointing. I came to a gate where I walk through to get to another line. In this line, you wait and drop off your luggage and they make sure it gets onto your connecting flight. Oh good, I didn't have to wheel my giant bags all the way through the airport. Well, I get three people away form being able to drop off my bags and the line stops and doesn't move forward. Finally a lady behind me goes up front to see what's wrong. They can't take any more baggage- yet they didn't tell any one in line that? The group of ladies behind me decided they were just going to go to the check in counter and put the bags through themselves. I followed their lead. I went out and found the shuttle bus and took it to the terminal I needed.

I waited in line to get help and after waiting, the guy told me that my bags have already been checked in and that all I had to do was take them to the x-ray machine. Great, I wish I would have known that before waiting 15 minutes for the guy, but whatever. I took my bags over to the x-ray and then went to my gate. Once I was at my gate I was finally able to call home to let people know that I was in America again. I hadn't realized how tired I was until I started talking to people. On the phone I was easily irritable and I noticed how much the trip had warn me out. I had about an hour or so to wait at the gate and then got on the plane that would take me to Salt Lake.

So, my seating for this trip home was fantastic... first, for the 13 hour ride I had the emergency exit with all the leg room, then, for the 2 hour ride I had no one sitting with me and so I had three seats all to myself. I made it off the airplane and called Grandpa right away. He didn't answer. I went down and got my luggage (it came out oober fast) and then called Grandpa once I had my luggage in hand. He didn't answer. I went out to the curb to wait for him at the drive by pick up station and called him to let him know where I was. He didn't answer. I kept calling and kept just getting his voice mail. I called Mom to tell her Grandpa wasn't picking me up and she was all stressed out and told me not to panic. I told her I wasn't panicked at all, I thought it was kind of funny. I ended up sitting there for a while, calling Grandpa every now and again just in case. Mom calls me back and asks where I am. I told her I was waiting at the curb where cars drive by to pick people up. I didn't know why she was asking where I was, I thought maybe she was wondering if I had gone to find an officer or someone to help me? I really didn't know.

I soon found out why she cared so much. I look up and I see Mom walking toward me. I tilt my head sideways and give her a funny look (I'm assuming it looked a lot like the face a dog makes when a dog is confused-any comments about me being a dog and I'll take away your presents!) and I pointed. When she finally got to me I said, "you live in California." A few steps behind her was Grandma and Grandpa Smith. I guess Dad was inside waiting at the carousel trying to find me in side (my family doesn't communicate well, Mom already knew I had my bags). We all met up. Mom kept asking if I was surprised. I told her I was, but that you couldn't see it on my face because I was so tired. It was true, I was exhausted.

We drove home (in two cars) and I went to bed pretty soon after we got back. So that was my journey back. I had good seats and was awaited by a welcoming party. It was a good trip and eased the pain of returning to America (well, it's not the returning I have a problem with, it's the leaving Taiwan part I'm sad about).