Manifest Destiny

After a restless night, a 3:30AM wake up call, a 6AM departure, and cross-continental flight, I've arrived at staging in San Francisco. Unfortunately, I am roughly four hours early, but at least I have a free wi-fi connection and my blog to kill the time.

The morning was rough, mostly because my loneliness and nerves kept me up through the night. I felt like my sleep cycle was just starting as I forced myself to my feet at quarter of four. Too bad, I had business to take care of. The flight was uneventful, although United Airlines charged me $50.00 to check my bags, which is ridiculous. Hopefully (fingers crossed) the PC will throw that back at me.

In more interesting news, I sat next to a young couple from China. We only began talking towards the end of the flight, but I learned that they were working/studying engineering in Massachusetts after having moved from (no joke) Chengdu. Its a little, tiny world out there. They gave me some good tips, and told me the city is beautiful and filled with helpful people. Also, they spoke of an area outside the sity proper that was supposedly as beautiful as Yosemite. I want to find this place, although I don't really remember the title of the park/area. It sounded as if there are two words in its title, and strong "j" sounds began both. Jing Jao? Jiang Je? Ching Joa? I'm not sure.

The last time that I was in California was over 15 years ago for the passing of my Great Grandmother, so I feel that I wasn't able to fully appreciate the expanse of American land that passed 30,000 feet beneath the fuselage. Looking out the windows of the plane was pretty crazy; I'm a sucker for clouds and landscapes. I watched coast turn to farmland, then badlands, the mountains, and finally back to coast. Very cool.