I’ve just returned from a five-day course with the OSU Adventure Leadership Institute at Smith Rock, learning how to work as a rock climbing guide. Needless to say, it was a really rewarding and challenging experience. After it was over, I had the unexpected opportunity to spend some time with my family over dinner, and then began doing laundry and repacking for my adventure across the pacific.

Flying out from PDX, I made it to San Francisco by about 9 am, and had some breakfast at a little airport café, which was surprisingly satisfying. After finishing my breakfast I took a short jaunt to the international terminal at SFO, exchanged some cash for Malaysian Ringgit, and then began my wait for the plane to arrive. I’d been told that Singapore Airlines was once one of the finest in the world, which was causing me to be actually excited for my upcoming near 20-hour flight to Singapore.

Though we ended up boarding an hour-and-a-half late, it wasn’t bad by any means, as we were able to taxi almost immediately after boarding. Spoke too soon! After taxiing, we were informed of an apparent technical issue, and headed back to the gate. What could it be? Perhaps someone’s carry-on butter knife was deemed too sharp? I have come to understand that the TSA does allow these dull knives aboard (why would anyone want to?) along with the ever-generic”tools”. Too bad no one brought the ones we needed to repair our Airbus. In all seriousness (and a bit of snark), I am glad that we were able to take care of whatever was wrong while on the tarmac, rather than sending out engineers at 14,000 feet.

I must say that I would tie Singapore Air with Virgin Australia for the best plane ride, even while still on the ground. We were given a full menu for food, hundreds of new films and TV shows to watch, hot towels, and more, all free-of-charge.

I had a nice seatmate on the plane, a young woman working for Google, who was given the opportunity to work directly with her Korean partners for the first time in Seoul. Once we made it there, we said our quick goodbyes and she left while I attempted to navigate my next transfer. It is quite astounding how frantic it can get trying to transfer off of one plane and back on to the same one. I had to take two shuttles, and was directed by a woman to “follow the green signs,” which was quite a challenge in itself with my fun perception of color. I began asking everyone wearing a uniform along my way “Transfer to Singapore?”, with the hopes that they would point me in the right direction, and without the faintest thought that perhaps there could be multiple of such flights occurring. Nor had I considered that someone may have been flying somewhere in uniform and not actually work there, when a wild-eyed white boy with two backpacks demands that he be transferred anywhere other than a mental institution.

I digress; I made it back to my plane with ample time, and to my surprise, I now had an empty seat next to me. 6 hours to Singapore.