People in the 1960s linked arms, swayed together, and sang, "If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair".
Well, I am currently in San Francisco (waiting to fly to Hong Kong) and the flowers in my hair are wilting because of my intense travel experiences.
Let me just say that I knew China was going to be an adventure; but, I had no idea that the excitement would begin before I left Kansas City! Goodness gracious!
Here is the Story of Whitney Heins – A Series of Unfortunate Travel Events:
Flight 1: American Airlines Flight from Kansas City to Chicago – Re-routed due to severe weather (75 minutes late)
Flight 2: From Chicago to San Francisco – Missed the original flight due to Flight 1 delay. (directed to United Airlines for stand-by flight)
Flight 3: United Flight from Chicago to San Francisco – After boarding the flight, the crew discovers an oil light on in the left engine. Try to fix it, but to no avail. Have to switch planes. The new plane was late arriving. Delayed for over two hours.
Flight 4: From San Francisco to Hong Kong – Ran through the airport and missed the flight by ten minutes.
Now, I am waiting in the San Francisco airport for 24 hours before I fly to Hong Kong. My upcoming flights have stayed the same, just one day later. (It has been really great - I've gotten to read and surf the web and sleep).
Even though it sounds disastrous, traveling has been a great learning experience. This is my first lesson in the flexibility necessary to live and work in a foreign country. As made evident in my “lists” blog post, I love organization, efficiency, and productivity. Unfortunately, this is not a reality for the next two years. My daily activities can no longer fit into my specific itinerary, and not everyone will be on my time schedule. Instead, I need to learn to adapt and be flexible. (Of course, this is easier said than done – especially when I am stuck waiting in line somewhere, haha).
In the meantime, I’m hoping the rest of my traveling will go smoothly. Before we know it, I’ll be in China. Looking forward to writing my next blog post when I will be comfortably situated in Kunming, with fresh flowers in my hair! Talk to you soon!
