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Location : Singapore
Date : 20/11/1998 (Friday)

Time : 4:00am
I was too excited to sleep. It would be my very first trip overseas - on a plane - in two hours time. Checked and rechecked the items in my bulging luggage bag. My mom simply refused to let me bring one less shirt. Prior to the red fabric luggage bag (which belonged to my aunt) which we(rather, my Mom) decided to use, I was using the hard purple pvc one (which belonged to my uncle). Realised the fabric one allowed me to pour in more stuff before the weight indicator on the scale showed ten kilos. Heh. Red. Hmmm... "I'm leaving on a jet plane..."

Time : 5:00am
Everyone plodded everywhere in a frantic search for THE taxi, which was supposed to arrive at five sharp. Obviously, it didn't... till five-thirty. Felt so devastated. Pretty sure the driver was sleeping on the job (What the heck am I saying... 'Tis so obvious!). The flight was scheduled for boarding at six-thirty I was supposed to meet my teacher cherperon (who was accompanying me... NOT) at the terminal at six...

The fastest taxi ride I'd ever taken in my life. The taxi perpetually flew above the road. It zoomed past all visible vehicles (The road was dimly and insufficiently lit by the orangy road lights.. I wonder why orange... is it a standard?). Reached the terminal by six. A sigh of relief. PHEW!

Time : 6:00am
Searched everywhere for my teacher chaperon. She was nowhere to be found. No... she wouldn't be late. Thought I'd got the wrong meeting place. Time was running out faster than I expected. Six-thirty and still she was nowhere to be found. In the end, I was left crossing the gate myself - for the first time. It was the emotional moment. My Mom tried to refrain herself but failed... Looked back through the window panels and saw her bulging red eyes, her hands waving goodbye. I wished I could rush back and hug her. Took me quite an effort to raise and wave my hand. It felt a thousand tonne heavier. Felt so funny. Yes. Funny.

I love you, Mom.

As I traversed the carpeted floor towards the boarding room, I saw her. There she was, legs crossed, reading some magazine. I entered. She saw me. Didn't bother to ask why she didn't wait for me. I felt extremely shaky, probably due to the fact that I didn't catch my sleep. Rather, I was extremely nervous. I'd never travelled on my own without my parents (Hey this is different from being pampered...).

Time : 7:00am
This was it. Take off. Taking everyone's account of the blocked ear due to increased pressure thingie, I searched my pockets and took out the strip of menthos I'd specially prepared. While the plane was still safely on the ground, I took one. Hmmm... Then the plane took speed. I took another one. Lift off. Another one. A quarter way up, another one. Halfway up, another one. Soon, I was left with only one. Hmmm. Must as well finish it. Funny taste.

Location : Narita Airport, Japan
Date : 20/11/1998 (Friday)

Time : 11:00am (Singapore time)
The air was different. Nah. It was the temperature. Felt like air conditioning. What a mountain tortoise I was. Had a safe journey, enjoyed looking at the clouds, though the window was shut most of the time. Tasted my first air-cooked meal. Wasn't really that nice. Not worth remembering(actually I forgot what I ate...).

There I was in Narita Airport waiting for a transit to Los Angeles. I met with an accident. It happened so that my cherperon had the boarding pass to continue the United Airlines flight while I hadn't. Worse still, we only discovered that at the very last moment when the United Airlines plane was about to fly. I had been transferred to an All-Nippon Airways(ANA) flight at the other terminal. She continue with the smooth flight to LA while I was left stranded at Narita Airport -- ALONE. I had to make my way to the other terminal myself. Fortunately, I found myself in a Japanese airport. Not that I knew how to speak Japanese, but the staff there were extremely helpful. In the end I managed to make my way to the boarding area ten minutes before actual boarding started.

Looked around in awe. They were all Japanese passengers! As the name goes... All-Nippon. ARGH. My legs began to wobble. Cutting short that part, I boarded the plane.

Another window seat.

Fortunately, no one sat beside me. The seat was much broader, but everything seemed so Japanese, naturally. The fun thing was, the air stewardess took me as a Japanese and asked me for my choice of newspapers to read. She was so surprised when I asked her for English papers, in plain English, of course. Off she went realising her stupid mistake. Heh.

Had a better air meal this time. Let me see... Scrambled eggs... noodles... raw fish! Hah. Wonderful Japanese delicacies...

Tried all the music channels available. There wasn't really any choice as only one was playing English music. So I stuck to that. "Truman Show" was played on screen. It would be my third time if I decided to watch it. By the way, it was also screened in the United Airlines flight I took earlier. So... oh well. Next came "Doctor Dolittle", another one which I'd watched before. Felt really bored on board. No nice music... no nice shows... Couldn't sleep either. I'm not sure why. Definitely not from excitement. Just couldn't sleep.

Location : LA Airport, Los Angeles, California, USA
Date : 20/11/1998 (Friday)

Time : 11:20am (Los Angeles time)
Woohooo. Final touchdown! Wasn't really that hard to get my passport chopped. The immigration officer asked for the reason for entering LA. I said Thinkquest. Thought she'd know. She shrugged and begged my pardon. So I tried explaining to her about this International competition which was being held in LA and blah blah blah... Guessed she got sick of it. Off I went to the luggage area. Waited a couple minutes. No sign of my bags. Oh no! They'd been hijacked! I'm left with no luggage! Heh. Finally saw two bags which I could identify as my aunt's. Row row row your bags gently down the plane(inclined)... And I saw a man holding the Thinkquest placard waving frantically at the waiting deck. That must be it.

Thinkquest Status
[OOO...........................................] 2.5%

Food of the Day
Long John Silver's Fish and Chicken Combo

Colour of the Day
Black remains still

Phrase of the Day
"That's shakespeare in love..."