Last Days - Dad Jumps Security Line at Airport and Delectable Airline Food

So on the day of the flight to Taiwan we were driving around the San Francisco peninsula with Megan's sister, Nina. On the itinerary: make last minute equipment purchases (Nina insisted : D), make the final pack, say good-bye to Winnie, close down utilities, have dinner with my parents and Nina and Brian (Nina's husband), and get the airport. Honestly, I hadn't really had time to consider what we were about to do because I had been working and packing at the same time and generally 3 weeks of hectic-ness in the run up to shipping out from SFO to LAX to TPE.

We were driving in Nina's car to the restaurant where we would have our last meal: you guessed it... a good old-fashioned cheddar cheese burger with some Peter's Bakery chocolate shavings cake with butter cream frosting(!). By the way, the last supper in San Jose the night before was at Vito's Famous Pizza, the best pizza I've ever had. We made it a point to go there for our last dinner in the States.

It hit me on the drive over; what we were about to do. No return ticket. No job. No apartment to go back to.      Just the two of us in search of "adventure and fortune", as Jeff said. Suddenly the car became quite hot. My stomach felt empty and almost non-existent. Did I just wake up? Where am I? Why is Megan carrying her hair dryer in the car? I swear my vision was a little fuzzy and the roadway started to spin a little.

One long short-cut later (Brian was driving, but to be fair I think the short-cut was Nina's and to be even fairer Google maps did get the directions wrong) and we were at the Red Robin. Everybody was talking about what an exciting chapter this would be in our lives and I kept thinking, we don't have a plan. What if it's horrible? What if we can't get jobs? What if they don't have Hell's Kitchen? It was a little weird being nervous about going because actually I've been wanting to do this for years. I realized why people don't do this sort of thing. It's the dive. Sometimes you just gotta take it, even if you're not totally sure what's going to happen.

The Peter's gave me some intestinal fortitude and we headed to the airport. The line wasn't long, and the only hitch was that the airline lady gave Megan the wrong boarding pass (I was about to sit next to Herr Hundhausen for the next 14 hours). Nina caught that one, thank goodness. I thought we might have to go to the conversation room. 


You're a life-saver Nina!


We said our goodbyes and got into the security line, the one your parents can't follow you into and where you get yelled at even if you're just standing next to the rope. We gave approximately 20 goodbye waves as we rounded each corner in the line. When we were about half-way through, Papa Chino (my grandfather) decided to call. My dad took the call and saw it necessary to duck under the security line (the one you can't duck under unless you want airport security to pat you down for explosive vests) to hand me the cell phone so I could say goodbye before I left SFO. Another potential conversation room moment. Fortunately, the SFO airport security guys are not especially vigilant. 


The flight was not bad. We settled in and had pretty good airplane meals and a pretty good (for airline standards) sleep. My meal came with an extra protein shot, as Megan mentioned. I didn't mention it to her at the time, lest she request a return ticket.

He made his home in my baby bok choy before somebody steamed it and him into delicious soy sauce oblivion! Glad I didn't get my tongue pinched.

Edward and Bella in Chinese.

Breakfast was OK too. Fortunately, the protein shot was optional for this meal.