the travel begins

and stops.

I started packing this morning at 8AM because I hadn't had a chance before. Made it on time to my flight from Kansas City to Minneapolis, and I was one the plane in the midst of a bunch of VFWs. They seemed like pretty fun guys, and I talked to the one next to me for most of the trip. His name was Ken and he was from Ohio. He had a purple heart from having his knee blown out in Vietnam. He asked me questions about how to use his computer. I must be wearing a sign or something. Airplane conversations are odd-natured. You talk to a complete stranger for a couple hours, and then you never see them again.

So the last week has been one of the craziest, most stressful weeks of my life. It's just been non-stop due to having to move out of my apartment. I did not have nearly enough time to get ready for this trip and I have just been overwhelmed.

So I arrive in Minneapolis and head to find my next gate before getting something to eat. On the departure screen, it looked like it had been delayed 2 hours. I headed over to ask and there was about a 50m line in front of the gate. The person next to me in line called and they told her the flight was delayed until 10AM tomorrow morning. It's true. So now I am sitting in my hotel room, furnished by Northwest. I'm actually having dinner with my aunt and uncle at the Mall of America. It's kind of a bizarre day. I also am rooming next to someone who is going to Wuxi directly from Shanghai. She might offer to have her friend drive me to Wuxi directly depending on where I'm going in Wuxi. That would mean I would miss a meeting with Faith (an old housemate of a friend) in Shanghai on Wednesday. I will have to see. I lost one day out of the day and a half I am supposed to be in Shanghai. Gotta go meet my aunt and uncle.

Until later folks