Oh the horrors...

Here now in Beijing. Flight was long (13+) hours, but not as bad as ones I've flown before. But wow. United Airlines internationally is even worse than I remember. The flight attendants breached new levels of crabbiness-- pole vaulting over established levels of decency. The sound continually cut out during the movies-- at all the key plot points. As far as the "food" goes (and yes, I know it's cliche to complain about airline food)-- it had to have been carcinogenic in the least, harvested from post-apocalyptic fields, fertilized with radiation. Ugh. I've peeled back more than my fair share of tin foil on bad inflight meals, but wow.

We ran some errands yesterday-- grabbing a cordless razor and some power strips. Stopped off for a quick meal and a beer and then an Ambien supported night of sleep at the Sino-Swiss Hotel. Now I'm sitting with some carry-on while we round up last minute cups of Starbucks and hop the 5-hr. flight to Urumqi. We got tagged with $1200 USD in excess baggage for this flight alone-- so maybe that'll buy us a meal upgrade....

Tomorrow we fly...

All packed. Well almost all packed. Still waiting for my iPod to finish charging. It's part of my arsenal. My weaponry to combat the oftentimes idiocy of traveling. At least that's how I feel about it now. Sometimes I'm excited. I would have been today I think, but then spent most of the time on the phone trying to finish up some contract negotiations and figure out liability and workers comp insurance. Yippee. Fun times. But now that it's all taken care of, I'm more or less ready to go. Unlike a lot of times, this trip should be fun. I realize it can sound spoiled for me to say that. But it's true. Spend too much time roaming, and it catches up to you. I'm with a group this time though. My brother and I are hosting a documentary for Nat. Geo. In row 40 on the direct Washington- Dulles to Beijing flight tomorrow will be our producer, our assoc. producer, our sound man, my brother and myself. The DOP is flying in from Sydney to meet us there. Other than that there's not too much to say. Feeling a bit out of it right now. But that's not too uncommon for me right before I head out. Sitting on my bed surrounded by a pile of just-washed clothes that I'm leaving behind. Munching on a pack of Gusher's faux fruit candy (the kind we never ate as kids-- too much sugar). A little scared even though I've done this a thousand times. I don't think the Gusher's are a comfort food, but they might be. Guess I have to add Gusher's to my arsenal. Here's a self-portrait from a recent shoot...my hotel room in Athens, Greece....