Ho Chi Minh - Universe - Berlin

So, perhaps you've read to the very end of my last blog post to hear about my idiotic military time mistake. That little two-hour mistake cost me $800. But when life gives you lemons, make lemonade! After I finally got over my absolute frustration with myself for missing that flight, and leaving my mom alone for two days while I languished in transit, I decided that there was a reason that I was not supposed to be on that flight. The Universe had something else in store for me, I was sure.

First at the Ho Chi Minh airport, I said to myself, I hope I sit next to someone interesting on this flight! Thereby, giving the Universe permission to put someone next to me (a Liz Gilbert-esque teacher) with a lesson to share. Alas, I was given Delbert, a late-20's guy's guy from Louisiana who called me Ma'am. Delbert works for an oil company in "offshore," lingo for something I really didn't want to know anything about. I revoiced my intention, aiming a little lower this time. "Universe, please let me meet someone and have a meaningful conversation."

Enter Javier and Andrew. Arriving in Hong Kong, I almost immediately bump into these two civil engineers who work in Madrid. One of them, Javier, was from Barcelona and Andrew was from Torun, Poland - the very place where I will spend the weekend with my mom! We all shared a beer and a very serendipitous moment. Andrew will be in Torun next week and there's a chance that we will get to meet again there. Javier promised to be my Spanish penpal when I return from Guatemala, and help me hone my Spanish language skills. Thank you Universe!

Andrew and Javier had just missed a flight for no good reason at all, so we had plenty of laughs to share over our common fate. So, when I told them I had to leave to go catch my plane because "Missing one plane is a bad mistake, missing two is just plain stupid," they agreed. So I went to (what I thought) was my gate, looked at the enormous line and decided to send them both an email so we could stay connected. After a brief stint online near the gate, I got to the end of the enormous line before the stewardess checked my boarding pass. You are not at this gate! This is Cathay Pacific! You are on British Airways!" (Note: my flight to Hong Kong actually was a combined British Airways/Cathay Pacific flight, so I wasn't being completely stupid.) She said it with such urgency, and I knew that my flight - wherever it was - was certainly in it's final stages of boarding. And if you've ever been to the Hong Kong airport, you will appreciate my panic because of the sheer size. I ran in my flipflops, with my carry on bouncing away, as fast as my feet would carry me towards Gate 17. I was really out of breath when I saw a representative of British Airways holding a sign, I showed her my boarding pass and she said, as panicked as she could, "RUN!" So I ran behind this 89-pound woman wearing proper shoes for running through an airport like OJ Simpson, and ran and ran. When I got to the gate, they were just shutting the doors. I was the Last Person on That Plane to Heathrow. It was a really close call!

So then I sit down, huffing and puffing, next to this amazing woman from Brazil, Denise. Denise is a university professor in Macau, and we connected almost immediately. Which was a good thing, because it was a 13-hour flight and we had LOTS of time to talk! We talked about life, love, and learning and we each felt like we'd received the angel that we needed. Score 2 for Universe!

Right behind us during the flight was a family traveling with two children, 4 and 1. And during the entire flight (I am not kidding) at least one of them was crying, sometimes both, and often with the kind of shrill that makes you wince in pain. And, while they wailed they kicked the seats in front of them wildly, which were our seats. The whole time I was thinking about what lessons I needed to take away from that.The parents were relatively unconcerned about their kids breakdowns (which is understandable on a long flight, but come on folks! Get a grip on those young screamers!) Needless to say, neither one of us got very much sleep at all, and But that was OK too, because we both had long layovers at Heathrow and we continued our amazing conversations. She's invited me to Brazil, and I'm holding out hope that she winds up calling the USA her home. Oddly enough, Denise almost missed HER flight because we were having so much fun!

So I am now sitting in Heathrow airport, the biggest shrine of Western Culture that I could possibly meet upon my re-entry to Western Culture. Needless to say, it's shocking. But I'm sure there is a lesson here for me too, I'm just trying to figure out what it is.

Berlin, I will be there shortly. I'm looking forward to meeting you!