The Travel To (May 18-20) .. Part II

The tricks continued. The shades were down the whole time, and we were lulled into various states of altered consciousness by watching movie after movie such as “In Good Company”, “Phantom of the Opera”, “Something About Winn Dixie”, and “Electra”. All movies that the entire group had managed to miss while in the theaters. The feeding continued, and so did our eating. Some sleep happened too. No talking. This was a 12 hour flight, and sometimes silence is the relief to pain.

The turnover in Taiwan was quick, and a bit of excitement, as it was the first time that we could look out the windows and see a world that looked fairly different from ours. We boarded for Hanoi, which was another 3 hours, and then landed after eating all garlic and anything else we feared was too organic for customs. This included Jolly Ranchers, Air Heads, Nerds, and granola bars. Thanks to all that, we again passed through customs easily and snagged our bags to meet Nhi, our Vietnamese friend, translator, and guide for the final flight into Hue.

Finally, though, a snag! Nhi was nowhere to be found! The cool headed leaders did not panic, they just walked around in a dazed state and acted like a plan was in motion. 45 minutes later, Nhi showed up, having been delayed by weather. The happy reunion (and introductions) turned into somber silence, as we realized our next flight was still about 5 or 6 hours away. We pushed the envelope (only to find out there was no laying down in this airport) and so the envelope pushed us. We marched on in silence: walking, smoking, sleeping, reading—no talking.

I, myself, lost a little bit of the edge here, and don’t remember how the time all passed. Rumor is, there are pictures of me sleeping with mouth wide open, like an old lady. On the plane to Hue, we had finally learned to reject the offered sandwiches, and most of us drifted in and out of sleep in the frigid, artificial air.

If this all sounds like misery, it wasn’t. The group pulled through amazingly well, with nary a complaint. When we arrived in Hue last night, at 7 pm Vietnam Time (VT), personalities had gone flat, but not turned ugly. It was a sweet sight to pull up and see the hotel staff, now friends from last year. The kids had grown, the hotel had been painted, but the sweet welcome was the same. We checked in quickly, and then somehow pulled off a quick meal and a quick trip to show people how to use the Internet, before they all started dropping off.

It is good to be back, despite what can seem like the modern day rigors of travel. We’ve assigned out blog entries for all of the group, so every day will be covered and hopefully, in not such prolific mundane quality. Please, friends and family, feel free to send in your comments and questions, and help us to share our experiences “real time”. Tune in for tomorrow’s report, from Dave Whitaker.