step one: LA, accomplished

Turns out that, while not exactly easy, it is actually possible to get a moderate night’s sleep in an airport. Admittedly, it does help if it’s the middle of the night and the terminal is pretty much completely empty, and also if you don’t mind looking like a complete imbecile while you’re at it. My method turned out to be curling up on one of the annoying bench-chairs, legs over my backpack and upper body around my purse, with my hood pulled up, sleep-mask on, and my wool coat wrapped all the way around myself (or as much as possible in whatever contorted position I ended up in).

Why the coat, you might ask? Well, partly to keep out sound and light, but mostly because it turns out that it’s freaking freezing in airports at night. I’m sure SeaTac would probably have the same problem (large space, no people filling it with their body heat, lots of windows, etc), but still. Cold.

As it is, I’m sitting here with my hoodie zipped up and my wool coat on, wide awake and wondering a) why the hell it’s so cold in here, b) where the hell this airport keeps all its reader boards and electrical outlets (Jack’s fine, but I’d like to charge up before getting on the plane), and why it is, exactly, that their Starbucks is not open yet. Maybe it’s just because I’m spoiled by SeaTac (or maybe just really naive - I realize I’ve never been in SeaTac at this hour before), but I truly expected that whenever I woke up, the Starbucks would be open. Especially given how damned cold it is in here. Bleh.

Still - 6.5 hours of sleep, not half bad all things considered. Definitely better than I expected to do, given the circumstances. If it hadn’t been for some maintenance guy setting off an annoying beeping alarm, I might even have done more, but the terminal’s getting more populated, so I suppose being awake at this point isn’t a bad thing.

A little over 5 hours til my plane boards. Oh, and look - it seems the Starbucks is now open.

Plesiosaurs, etc

From The Boy (who knows how to keep me entertained when I'm awake early): Real Sea Monsters, a New Scientist article on ancient marine reptiles. Totally awesome stuff. ♥

important question re: inflatable pillows

Forgot to ask this earlier because I managed with my towel and sweater, but... am I the only idiot in the world who can't figure out how to blow up one of those damned inflatable neck-pillow things they sell for travel, or is there some kind of trick to it? It's got a... er... inflate-y-bit just like if you're blowing up some kind of inflatable pool toy, but no matter how hard I puff, I can't get the slightest inflation. Tried biting the... mouth-bit thing and all, thinking maybe there was a catch or something... nothing. Anybody?

Off to find correct terminal so that I can wait without worry...

Edited @ 9:25am Have successfully found correct terminal. The international stuff is all in a different building. Apparently this is meant to somehow be intuitive. Sorry, I come from a city where the airport only has one building. Although this does explain why the other building I started out at was so damned chintzy-looking. I thought that seemed a bit bizarre for a big international airport. :P This building is much nicer, albeit also under construction in parts, and with excessively long empty halls in others. Quite strange. But the terminals themselves are very nice.

I'll probably be dropping communication soon, to save my battery for the trip. Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Tokyo!