on traveling and being obsessive/impulsive, day one or how i learned to stop worrying and love pepto bismol

i put this entire trip together mostly using a very loose definition of 'put together' in 3 days.
i could have read a novel in it's entirely, or i could have been screwing around on my guitar for 3 days, which is much more likely.

leaving wasn't as simple as i thought. i packed 2 physical versions of my itinerary and still somehow after matt driving me to the airport, i fell asleep and lost the copy on my carryon luggage. due to certain 'security measures' enacted due to the death of a certain bearded so and so, when i arrived in vancouver after another nap, i was so overjoyed at my luck of getting keith richard's bio book left behind by some other passenger, i forgot to check for my itinerary. so there you go, some random smuck came across my flights and my heathcare insurance, i hope it's an interesting read.

when i landed in vancouver, they were all business. i got grilled by the agent and he was very interested in the fact that i had no physical record on me of where i was going. he asked how he knew i wasn't going to stay in vancouver; i held my tongue. i could have said, well you don't mind when i drive up from seattle, or there is a visa in my passport for vietnam for this month or i enjoy having interesting interviews with border patrol men, but i didn't. he scolded me and told me not to do it again as if it was my intention.
one. hoop. down.
i grabbed my gear and walked though security where they scanned my finger for traces of explosives, (fortunately i had handled fireworks 3 days previously, and the traces were gone).
two. down.
then i went to grab a bran muffin, (see, i wasn't lying when i told you i enjoyed them) and sat down listening to peter, bjorn and john's latest, which is epic. thanks, nick! if i wasn't in paradise, i would be at the show with you. i got a friendly tap and there was another security officer, who asked me a myriad of questions, including about my work and if i had a 6 pack (abs). i declined to show my case off, but had to reiterate that i am unemployed again, which is always a pleasure! thanks, so much!
three. i knew patterns happen in 3's.




i befriended an aussie gent, who is working in canada on the oil lines. he was off to manila, mostly to get his teeth worked on, which was interesting to me. 1 - 10 hr flight later, not getting up once, next to a man who had night tremors and smelled of mothballs, i was in radioactive japan. it seemed much more agricultural than i guessed, but then again, i am geographically changed. i swear i read at an 8th grade level. i don't know anything about narita. spoke more with the aussie and grabbed lunch in a joint in the airport. i'm glad i looked at the conversion too, that bowl of soba cost me $15. (he is going to retort about the word 'insert').
$15 is a night stay over here! c'mon, michael! back on another flight and into hanoi, where the accomodations at rendezvous was fantastic. i will post photos of the room. the streets were empty when i arrived which truly is a rarity. i crashed in the queen bed with air conditioning and a very brasilian styled bathroom, (hanoi really reminds me of brasil, with more motorbikes). quiet, quaint and stylish.