Drums

My alarm this morning was drums from below. It sounded like a parade. A marching band .I'm on the eighth floor and it was loud enough to wake me. I had been up until 5am watching Michigan best Maryland in football. I got dressed quickly to get downstairs and see the band. I found a group of people in Chinese dragon costume (bottoms, no tops) packing up and a crowd around a new flower shop in the ally behind my hotel. Well I'm up. Let's get coffee.

Crossing signals

When you cross the street every crosswalk has a little man icon that shows him walking and as time gets short, he walks faster and faster. It is funny to see him rush at the end there.

SFO to TPE

This was a harder flight than I expected. About twelve hours in the air. I watched two movies (Ready Player One and Tag). I enjoyed them both. I tried to watch one other and could not get into it (some Mellisa McCarthy movie).

I spilled my drink on my pants early in the flight, so I put something on the wet seat and tried to dry my pants. It eventually dried and was fine, but not a wonderful start.

I ate a meal which was fine, not great. Airplane food. I always like the ice cream they give for dessert. The pre-landing breakfast was downright lousy, rubbery eggs and sausage.

I think the bottom line is I never really slept. My seat wasn't very comfortable. I guess I got two naps of an hour or so. But it makes for a very, very long flight when you don't sleep more than that. I end up trying to sleep, resting my eyes and not sleeping just thinking about things. Sometimes that's good, sort of meditation. I had a fair amount of time on this flight thinking about things that are unsettled more than meditation.

I need to think about this for the way home. Maybe find a book to read.

Slot machine

The entertainment system on the international fight has games as well as videos. The games are things like trivia, card games, puzzles. The woman next to me has been playing a slot machine game for hours; the entire time she's been awake on this thirteen hour flight. I can understand games with some form of skill or even slot machines that might pay you real money - but what is the entertainment value of a non-paying slot machine?

Exit Row

The upside of the exit row is obvious more legroom. Bonus today as nobody is next to me. The downside is at row 20 they run out of the hot food choices like breakfast sandwiches. Cold oatmeal for me.

Headphones

The woman next to me is looking for where to plug in her head phones to listen to the video she wants to watch. She can't find a place anywhere on her arm rest after going over it three times. She's looking hard. Then it dawns on her that maybe the plug in on her iPad since it's her iPad on which the video is playing.

Bloody Mary

Guy across the aisle has a double bloody mary. Its a 822am flight on a Thursday. He seemed to sleep well after, though. 

Taiwan

I decided to go to Taiwan for a weekend. I've been watching the flight prices, $624 round trip on United. One of the best deals to earn miles and keep my 1k status this year. Slightly under four cents a mile.

I need to figure out what I'm doing once I get there. The current list is...

Taipei 101 tower
Night food markets
Temples
Hot springs in the mountains (?)

I downloaded the Lonely Planet guide in hopes if making the list longer in the 13 hour flight from San Francisco.