Last minute packing and other thoughts

Jeff, ,

After a month of waiting, the big day is finally here! I will be flying out of the Garden State at around noon tomorrow and arriving in Beijing the next day in the early afternoon, local time (can you say jet lag?). As usual, I will not be sleeping a wink on the 12 hour plane ride…I’ve found that watching movies non-stop is a much more entertaining way of spending one’s time. As for how I’m going to spend my free time in China, I’ve decided to bring the following items:

  • Jack Kerouac’s On the Road – an appropriate title indeed
  • Jim Collin’s Built to Last – finally, I can finish this book
  • Two issues of Discover magazine – plus I can do the puzzles in the back
  • My laptop – how else will I be able to blog while I’m in China? 😉
  • My iPod Touch – I just downloaded the solitaire app, so it’s all good.
  • Math textbook – this is for when I’m bored. Nothing burns time like doing differential equations…(nerd alert!)
  • Rubik’s Cube – this is for when I’m really bored…or when I feel like showing off, though I suspect all the kids in the China can probably do it faster than I can.
  • My GUITAR! – you have no idea how excited I am to travel with my guitar :D. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Continental will let me bring it as a carry-on. Hey, there’s nothing that a smile and a friendly attitude can’t solve.
  • Clothes – self-explanatory.
  • Money – also self-explanatory.
  • Other junk (i.e. gifts) – this is all the stuff that I’m bringing for other people, and can be divided roughly into two categories: consumable junk (e.g. fish oil, chocolate covered raisins, multivitamins) and non-consumable junk (e.g. sponges (wtf!?!?), wedding presents :)). Why my grandparents won’t buy their sponges in China is still a mystery to me…maybe the quality is bad?

Phew! That certainly is a lot. What’s sad is that the majority of the stuff I’m carrying, both by weight and by volume, does not belong to me. Like I said before, it’s all junk. Thus is my curse for being Chinese and traveling alone to China during the summer.

One last thing: according to my e-ticket, there will be no meals served during the flight. I hope this is some egregious typo, because as much as I detest airplane food, I hate starving even more.