Goodbye Europe, Hello Asia

Goodbye Europe, Nice to Meet you Africa(n airport), Hello Asia

--written on January 7, 2010 - the day of my transcontinental flight--

9am - Budapest decided to send me off with a beautiful snow storm...I make the freezing trek to pick up my visa from the Indian consulate, struggling through the fresh snow/slosh without my winter garb, which arrived in CA this morning (thanks mom!). I navigate the bus system, get my visa, and avoid a broken ankle in my flip flops. Mission accomplished.

10am - I return home, realize I do not have enough time to shower (why does this always happen to me?), and thus adorn my typical airplane outfit: track shoes, jeans, at least four layers of my bulkiest shirts and sweaters, all of my scarves and headwraps, and my glasses. (I decided to pack the retainers/headgear this time...shocker, I know).

11am - I frantically try to eat all of the remaining food in the apartment and squeeze all of my new (heavy) guidebooks into my suitcase. I am not successful: hopefully egyptair is not too strict with their baggage allowance rules.

1pm - good news. they're not. I lug my over-the-limit hand bags through passport control and hold my breath, this time in the hope that the inspector doesn't notice my overly long stay in Europe (and choose to fine me, ban me from teh EU for the next five years, or both). With his quick stamp of approval, I breathe easy again. Goodbye Europe, hello....duty free shopping (don't give me that face; I bought tokens of appreciation for my future Asian hosts...okay, and a fat tube of smarties...which exploded in my bag later...luckily they don't melt as badly as m&m's).

3pm - As the small egyptair plan picks up speed down the runway, my final view of Budapest dissolves into a complete whitout. I contemplate the dangers of flying in such conditions when suddenly we emerge above the dense clouds and enter into a completely different atmosphere. I had failed to realize that, oh yeah, snow doesn't fall above the clouds. The view is clear and beautiful as the sun sets over central Europe.

4pm - My ears finally stop popping and I survey my flight-mates. Next to me is a young Egyptian guy who is trying to chat me up in broken English whilst leaning far too much into my shoulder. Behind me is a Canadian woman who works at the international school in Cairo teaching English; she's dressed funny (I momentarily forgot what I look like right now). Across the aisle is a Thai woman, who, like me, is connecting through Cairo to Bangkok. In front of her are these four guys who are reading porn mags and shamelessly enjoying the view each time the stewardesses walk by (more often than not, in response to the guys' buzzing of the service bell). I dislike them a little bit less when one of them (the most shameless of the bunch) crawls underneath his row of seats for a nap. I appreciate his creativity.

5pm - In flight meal. Halal style. Except for Hungarian sacher tort...rum flavored, just like the ice cream and cake we bought at the Budapest supermarket for my birthday the other night...grossest bday cake ever (but good effort mom--not your fault).

8pm - As we descend upon Cairo airport, I am surprised by the lax rules onboard. Kids are playing in the aisles, seatback tables are still lowered (gasp!), no one checks to make sure I fastened my seat belt! ...okay, I should be able to handle that one on my own. After a moment's reflection, I appreciate the realism in the flight crew's approach: if we crash land, a lowered seatback table or unbuckled belt probably won't be my biggest problem.

9pm - Sitting in the Cairo airport, tolerating mild leering from some Thai adolescents awaiting the same connecting flight. Maybe they don't like my outfit. Later, in an attempt to witness any evidence of my new locality, I search for the airport prayer room advertised in Egyptair's inflight magazine. Unfortunately, the only difference I find between a major European and African airport is that a bottle of water costs 11 something instead of 3 or 4 euros....I hope those weren't euros....

10pm - I just accepted a complimentary caramel from the steward as this huge plane finishes boarding. I realize how insanely lucky I am to speak English as my first language; I mean, I just flew from Hungary (national language = Magyar, which is related to Finnish, which is related to incomprehensibility) to Egypt (national language = Arabic), and now I'm flying from here to Thailand (national language = Thai), yet everything onboard is firstly explained in English! Granted it's still nearly impossible to understand in various accents, but it's English nonetheless.

some unknown time later (I was in and out of consciousness) - I arrive in Bangkok, wait in line for 2 hours to get a visa-upon-arrival, and make my way to the taxi line because the hotel driver seems to have left when I didn't come through the immigration line for two hours. I take a taxi through Bangkok traffic to a hotel kindly reserved for me by a Thai cuber.

In the taxi - I vomit. Welcome to Bangkok!