013 Trapped in Aluminum Tube

   

Wet LAX

Our Aluminum Tube

Monday morning February 9, 2009. Rained like crazy as we drove to LAX. So hard at times that the wipers could barely clear the windshield. I dropped Cat at the terminal and returned the White Elephant. Moving through TSA was fairly simple untilthe, “take off shoes” portion. They have no seating, old guys like me just have to hop around hoping not to fall.The clouds parted as our Aluminum Tube taxied up to the boarding gate.

EVA’s Boeing 777 was clean and neat. Unfortunately we were seated in the tail section. Every little bump was accentuated to white knuckle status. Food service twice, quite good. Videos on demand helped but there’s no escaping the Aluminum tube prison.

 Surprise, rather than fly due west we were soon flying right over the Channel Islands area. Pretty good photo, eh? EVA has that maddening feature, the little airplane on the map that slowly, ever so slowly moves toward Taipei. Another surprise, we followed the west coast to Oregon before turning out over the Pacific. Then we flew almost close enough to see Anchorage, Alaska. “The world is not FLAT!”

Home Below

Hooray, Taipei

Hooray, Taipei
It felt so good to be back on terra firma. Immigration and customs were a snap. They even provided a large flat cart for the bikes which were in the baggage area by the time we got there. The other 3 bags took time but we were out the door and into the armes of Jerry, our transportation person. 

Get on the BUS

Another interesting surprise. Jerry led us to a huge bus. We and the bikes were transported in a bus that normally moves 24 people. Not very green, just a trypical travel fowl-up. A 45 minute ride and 2 tired travelers arrived at the door of Seasons Hotel.  The staff is fantastic, perhaps because they don’t usually receive visitors from the USA. Several have lived in or visited the US. Many speak English. We love the feeling of life among locals.