I'll fly you to Asia!

Well, holy sh**. I’m in Asia, and my sleep is completely messed up. I took only a 2 hour nap earlier today, woke up completely disoriented, and then went to bed exhausted at 12 and woke up at 3, then at 5, then at 6 and was unable to go back to sleep. And, I have that “you slept too long” headache that I get when I nap and my body thinks it should have only been for a 3 hour period at max. Wake up, body. You’re in Asia, get use to the 12 hour difference, please!

My journey began Monday morning at 11:30 am. 32 hours later I arrived in Taipei. I had a first stop in St Paul to drop off and pick up some people, so I got off the plane for an hour and a half to stretch and such. It was already a long ride. I made it to LA 8 hours after leaving Boston and had dinner plans with my gorgeous friend Meredith from home, and our friend Jason was also able to come out and join which was such a nice surprise. I was going to have to wait for her so I went to the bar and had a margarita and a bloody mary, and only then did I realize how dehydrated I had been (despite drinking lots of water, I swear!!) I was very tipsy. I almost lost my things about 3 times. Once (after leaving the bar and going downstairs to wait for Mer) I got up from my seat to use the bathroom, dropped my boarding pass on the floor and left my workbag with everything important for me on this trip. It wasn’t until someone said “you dropped something” that I turned around and realized how dumb I was. Good going Lauren, and I haven’t even left the country yet!

We went to a really nice restaurant where Meredith works (so we got 40% off whoop whoop) – kobe beef sushi, bass, salads, a cheese plate, and 2 other desserts ensued (not to mention a cocktail and a ton of wine). The 3 of us reminisced to old times growing up, laughed a lot and weren’t ready to leave when it was time. Since Mer and I had clearly drank too much, I took a cab back to the airport. Luckily I didn’t leave anything important there.

I wasn’t expecting it, but my flight on China Air was actually really nice. And, it was a double-decker plane. The entertainment was decent, and I slept off and on for a good 8-9 hours (the wine did me in, I didn’t even need to use the xanax!) Surprisingly, even though I still hate flying it has gotten a bit better for me, I have realized.