Leaving: The Build-up

Once again I spent a miserable summer, sick with multiple infections, worn out by antibiotics, and struggling with blood sugar levels and depression. I was too tired to even talk on the phone, and had a whole month of rollover minutes on my cell phone when I left for Thailand.

When I started to feel well enough to drive more than a couple of miles and thought I could stay awake for more than two hours at a time, I headed for North Carolina. Jellybean talked me into making the trip, knowing that it would be good for me to be around people instead of hiding in a motel room. And it was. Thanks, Jellybean. I stayed for three weeks, made a quick trip to Skip's and CR's, then returned to Jellybean's place. She had offered to store my car for me, so I made plane reservations with a departure from Wilmington, North Carolina.

Since depression isn't exactly what one would call a state of high aspirations and efficient execution, I left booking my flight until the last minute. There were no frequent flyer seats available. Suprisingly, the leg causing all the trouble was Wilmington-Atlanta. After making several calls, being caught in a system-wide reservations crash at Delta, and getting nothing but discouraging results, I spoke to a very resourceful agent who solved my problem. She suggested I fly to Atlanta the night before. And so I did. It made the whole trip a bit more expensive, but still way less than actually purchasing a ticket.

Later, I booked a flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on a discount airline, AirAsia. Once again, I left it to the last minute, and paid $25 plus tax (a little over $40) instead of the $17 plus it would have cost me if I had planned better.

After running around at the last minute, I finally was packed and ready to go. Jellybean drove me to the little Wilmington airport. I was on my way! At last!