Ah, the stories we'll tell

December 15, 2004 flight to Taipei, Taiwan with layover in Narita, Japan

9:00AM Leave my cousin's house for the airport to catch my 11:05AM flight to Taipei
9:30AM Arrive at LAX, get in line to use an eTicket terminal to check in
9:40AM Slide in my credit card, am presented with many flight options, none of which are mine. When I punch in my ticket number, the machine says "Cannot find your reservation."
10:00AM Finally am able to speak with an overworked counter agent, who tells me I need to get in a different line to talk to a ticketing agent
10:02AM Get in other line to talk to ticketing agent
10:05AM Call United's toll free telephone to ask about my problem. Am told my ticket was scheduled for NOVEMBER 15th.
10:10AM Call Taiwan to wake up my dad (Taiwan local time is 2:00AM) to let him know what has happened.
10:40AM Receive a call from Taiwan saying my dad has changed my flight to today's flight.
10:45AM Finally can talk to a ticketing agent. I am notified that the gate is already closed and the plane is about to leave. There is no way for me to make the flight today and there is only one flight per day leaving for Narita, Japan.
12:25PM Get picked up to go back home

What a hectic day. I'm now scheduled to leave tomorrow.

On another note, there are these monks who roam the airports and give you books on Yoga, Dharma, the Dali Llama and whatnot. They come up to you, TELL YOU YOUR HAIRCUT LOOKS GOOD, and then hand you a book. They say it is FREE but they then proceed to ask you for a donation. This happened to me on the way to Ohio for Thanksgiving at the Chicago O'Hare airport. This also happened to me TWICE today as I was waiting to get picked up. They look like any other person getting ready to fly; one of them was actually pushing around one of those luggage carts with boxes in it. I just said I already had the books and they pretty much left me alone. Crazy. Just be warned. If someone comes up to you and compliments you on your hair, you know what's coming.