Where We Are
How does one catch up on documenting six months worth of events? One big post? Start in April? Start in October? I remember someone telling me when I began scrapbooking that I should start with the present and when I was done with that, begin to work backward to fill in some gaps, knowing that I would never get everything covered. With that in mind, I will start where we are…in an airplane over the North Pole. Seriously!
I guess it will be a little impossible to not backtrack a little to explain how we got here. Tim was recently admitted into the partnership in his accounting firm. All scariness of what it means to go from being an employee to a business owner aside, the firm conducts a global new partner training each year for the incoming new partners. It has historically rotated between the Americas and the rest of the world, but this year they decided to keep the location international. Yay for us, although I would have been excited about being sent anywhere. This year's destination is Singapore. I am embarrassed to admit that until now, I didn't know where Singapore was or that it was a country vs a city. I knew it was Asia, but through this process I've been enlightened, and now know that it is a small country just north of Indonesia, said to be one of the most amazing places that we will ever visit. Who knew? Not this small town simple girl! We would have never chosen Singapore as a place to travel to…I guess we've always thought mostly of European destinations.
I've done something in preparation for this trip that is entirely out of my box: I have not prepared. I don't mean that I was ill-prepared to travel, just that I haven't "pre-explored" all that we will encounter. I didn't want to have any expectations. Other than the anxiety of leaving home at a busy time (when is it not a busy time?), and leaving our kids (we updated our will before we left), this entire experience has been a treat so far! The home front is under control thanks to my parents who are pretty laid back so I didn't stress about needing to be ultra organized for them. We left them in the midst of a normal schedule aside from the fact that we are in the process of moving and have construction happening in the new house! That's a whole new post though.
I have had a passport for eight years and don't have one single stamp in it yet. That will all change in about a half a day. I have been in an airplane for 12 hours…2 1/2 from Nebraska to New Jersey and now 91/2 enroute to Singapore. It is an almost 18 hour flight! (We actually lose an entire day since there is also a 13 or 14 hour time difference) We will probably never travel like this again in our lifetime. I don't mean we won't ever travel internationally. We are flying business class, and apparently international business class on Singapore Air is very different than domestic business class. I feel like a little kid on an amusement park ride for the first time! We waited in a lounge that offered WiFi, places to plug electronics in to recharge, and free food and drink. When it was time to board, we were each greeted by our names and shown to our seats--and then promptly offered a drink--in a glass. Seats that are big enough that we could both sit in one of them. We each have a 15" TV screen in front of us, enough storage under the seat in front to climb into, compartments and cubbies, including one to stretch out and rest our feet.
We departed at 11pm and at midnight I was eating some sort of seafood appetizer with bread and my own little bottle of olive oil and a glass of French Merlot, followed by a beautiful plate of salmon and sides and a glass of Australian Shiraz. As if that was not enough, then I was served the most delicious Creme Brule, and a chocolate truffle, and before that was even gone, offered the most delicious looking cheese and beautiful pieces of fresh fruit, which I reluctantly passed on. I was so full, but it looked so good! I would have been absolutely content with only the cheese and fruit! The food is something that I am looking forward to experiencing on this trip, but I had no idea it could start on the airplane!! The flight attendants are over-the-top amazing too!!
We have 18 hours on this plane and yet Tim and I both admitted that we felt this sense of needing to watch as many movies as we could, eat the food when it was offered, indulge in the drinks when they were offered…seriously, like little kids!! We did watch one movie while we were eating, and even though it was 1:30am, and I was very tempted to start another one, I instead transformed my seat into a bed and sprawled out and went to sleep for 7 hours. I am literally typing this over the North Pole! The flight offers WiFi, but there is no signal right now, so I am only composing rather than posting at this point. Still pretty cool though!! Judging by other passengers around me--and when I say around me, I mean the few that I can actually see because we are so spread out--and on the plane, many of them travel this way often and it is not as novel as it is to me. I will still marvel at the fact that I was able to brush my teeth in the bathroom because I was offered a new toothbrush and toothpaste on our return flight home. If the city is half as fun as the airplane, our time there will be much enjoyed.
