It’s been over a year since I last came back to Taiwan to visit mom. The long flight is finally behind me.
Went from Cleveland to Los Angeles and then to Taipei. Decided to try the shuttle bus in LAX from domestic to the international terminals. What an experience! I got on bus “A” and wanted to make sure that I was on the right one. The driver is an older african american gentleman. So I asked if he stops at China Airlines. No answer. I asked again. Then I detected a very slight nod still no vocal confirmation. It seemed a bit odd but I sat down. He stopped at a couple more domestic terminals, lots of people got on and almost everyone asked if the bus stops at their destination. He never gave a good Yes or No answer. Just a vague nod or a vage disapproving shake. Finally, he got irritated from all the people asking, he told everyone, this is bus “A”, A menas all the terminals. We looked at each other thinking this is really odd. After the domestic terminals, he turned around and asked where do we want to go. We all answered. He stopped at China Air. I was a bit confused and asked if China Airlines is at the same place. He said, it’s china Air, China airlines is china airlines. I said correct, so is this where I should get off? He said, you said China Air. That’s why I stopped at China Air. (That would be a very incorrect assumption. I know the difference of these two airlines cause I actually went to china Air last year in Korea and felt really embarrassed when I was told that I went to the wrong one. So I know I didn’t make another mistake this time for sure.) Oh well. The next stop he yelled “International Terminal”. I waited. Then he said, “China Airlines, ..” Okay, now I know this is the stop I get off. Well, it turned out that it’s at the beginning of the building for a lot of airlines. And China airlines is at the other end of the building. I think he intentionally stopped there to make sure I walked the whole way.
No more shuttle bus in LA!! I could have walked with a lot less irritations and frustrations. I walked all the previous times and just wanted to have an adventure this time. An adventure I got for sure. 🙂
The rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful. I knitted and listend to an old audible book that I forgot most of the details. Didn’t sleep much on the plane, not comfortable and my chair couldn’t recline either. Showed the little girl sitting next to me how to go to the video games and she played the zuma-like game for a while. Her mother or grandmother was not that friendly. I almost missed tray pick up a few times because she just quietly handed over her tray and the little girl blocked my view to the aisle to notice any commotions. The flight attendant had to call for mine to let me know they were there.
The custom and the luggage pick up were both smooth and painless. The security brought a little dog to sniff the luggages. It’s so cute we almost forgot about the seriousness of his mission. Took a cab from the line and the driver was a typical taxi driver that went 120 in the 90 zone and zig zag from lane to lane. He was very proud of his skills though and told me so. Ended up he got to the hotel in record time and the fare was less than what I am used to pay for the taxi ride. He felt bombed. But after I gave him the $100 difference any way, he happily took my luggage into the lobby for me. $$$ helps in a lot of situaions.
After a shower and settling down in the room, I went out to search for some food and to stretch my legs. Found all kinds of food stores and stands still going strong at 11:30pm. Got some yen-su calamari and egg yolk filled taro balls and a Taiwan beer from the corner 7/11. It was very delicous. I don’t normally like yen-su anything but this was very, very tasty. I was thoroughly satisfied. If anything, food is fantastic to this old chinese taste bud.
That night, before I went to sleep, my feet kept cramping up. Probably protesting the long flight and the fact that I only got up and went to the restroom once in the whole flight. But it didn’t take long for me to fall asleep.