I almost never go on vacation for several reason: The main one is that I really don't like being away from my dog and she feels the same way about me.
In the past 12 years she has grown accustomed to me always being around and well, unless you are a sociopath or a farmer you end up feeling the same way about the dog. Therefore, I don't really ever even contemplate going anywhere even if that means I am missing out on stuff.
This weekend is a friend's 50th birthday though, and you only get one of those. So I am flying to Chiang Mai, where I once lived, just for the weekend. This brings about the 2nd reason why I almost never travel: Travel, by air, sucks ass.
I can't stay flying and it isn't because of any sort of fear of planes crashing, it is because the entire system seems to be designed to make us all as uncomfortable as possible. It seems that everyone employed by an airport has been trained in being as mean as possible. To make matters worse, I made a critical error in my booking and didn't realize it at the time.
4 hours and 40 minutes. That doesn't seem so bad now does it? Well, it could end up being 28 hours and 40 minutes because of a few "fine print" details that I was unaware of until after I had paid for it.
I am self-transferring in Hanoi and unbeknownst to me, their domestic and international terminals are a kilometer apart from one another. I will have to get a bus when I am there are seriously leg it down the hallway dodging lookie-loos who are taking selfies. I will likely opt for the bus.
The problem here is that since I am changing terminals, it is going to be necessary for me to leave security and then be subjected to it again in the new terminal. Still not a big deal but then I also have immigration to contend with. Since it is Friday, this could also be a problem because Friday is when most people travel. If the line is backed up, I could have a real problem with potentially missing my flight. Still not a big deal until you consider that the Hanoi to Chiang Mai route is not a popular one and there isn't another flight until TOMORROW if I miss this one.
This, combined with the fact that my first flight, with VietJet, comes at the hands of a company that is notorious for departing late, sometimes very late. If that happens, there will be no reason for me to attempt to rush because I am not going to make the flight.
In order to combat these travel jitters, I have already resigned myself to the fact that I am going to miss the flight, that way, if I do NOT miss the flight, it will be like a treat that I wasn't expecting. I have no desire to hang around an airport for an entire night so I will book one of those transit hotels near the airport and just read and chill and go to bed early.
The good news is that the party for the friend isn't until tomorrow night so in the worst case scenario I end up reading a lot (I'm reading "Gold Coast" now by the way... you know who you are!) and then I end up getting on an early flight tomorrow morning.
But even if everything goes according to plan I really hate traveling by air. Everything is just so stressful. I will be heading to the airport far earlier than I actually need to because I am a nervous traveler. There is nothing I can do about the connection in Hanoi though. If I miss it, I guess I am going to be reading 100 pages of a book.
That's the plan anyway. Nadi has already been dropped off at the doggy-sitter's place, a good friend of mine that loves her as much as I do and gives her too many french fries.
So wish me luck! Hopefully my next post will be a good story about how everything went extremely well and I missed zero flights.