East. Then Middle East. Then East Africa.

People who know me know that I don't like to spend money and that when I do, I keep things pretty cheap.  For example, I got an excellent deal on airline tickets to get me to and from Tanzania, saving about $1000 from what the program guide estimated it would cost.  I was pretty excited because that was essentially like getting a scholarship which really helped because I wasn't able to get a job this summer.  There is, of course, a downside to selecting this option and that would have to be the wait time.  I left my parents' house at 4:30 AM on Saturday and that is where I choose to say that I began traveling.  After I land in Dar es Salaam, it will still take some time to get to the actual school and I'll count that too so this brings my grand total estimate of time spent traveling up to almost 48 hours.  I don't mind the actual flying part of traveling, but the waiting in the airport is what destroys me and I'd say that the 48 is split evenly between actually moving and sitting around.  Yikes.

As I write this right now, I'm sitting in the airport in Doha, Qatar where I arrived at 6 PM local time, an hour ahead of our scheduled arrival.  My plane for Dar es Salaam (and then I can finally get out of an airport, thank God) starts boarding at 6:45 AM.  As you can tell, I have not adjusted to the time or figured out how to sleep well in airport chairs.  Every other airport I've been stuck at seems to shut down as it gets late and then starts back up again in the morning, but this place was tame when we first arrived and has had flights leaving almost every five minutes since I got here.  Additionally, there is only one terminal for all of these flights to come into, so no matter where you are, you have to listen to all of the announcements for every flight - it's almost nonstop though it seems to be calming down now.  It is really cool to see signs in the airport in Arabic and English though and there is also a mosque right in the airport.  I took some pictures that I'll put up later, my favorite being the sign that says "No sleeping in the mosque".  Of course if I walked by now that would be just about all anyone is doing in there so maybe I'll get another picture of that.

Right next to the mosque is the "Quiet Rooms".  I put it in quotations because my actual experience with said rooms would require they be called something else.  These rooms have chairs that are have sloped backs like they recline, though they are still just as uncomfortable as normal airport chairs.  They don't have lights on in them, but the one of the walls is floor-to-ceiling glass so all of the light from outside it comes in.  They also don't have intercoms in them so you are free from listening to the announcements, unless someone peaks in to see if there is an open seat and leaves the door propped open.  First of all, it was very difficult for me to even find a seat in there so when I did I thought I made bank and I would just sack out until a little before my flight leaves.  Well if the discomfort of the seat didn't prevent me from sleeping for more than 20 minutes at a time, my jet lag did... or maybe it was the guy snoring louder than my dad... or maybe it was the little kids playing around and making noise.  To cut this rant short, I didn't really get to sleep much in there and actually got more irritated than before I entered.  This is an example of a bad story, but most of my experiences on this trip have been great so far.

The airline I'm flying with is Qatar Airways which I would consider a luxury airline.  Even though I was sitting in economy class, each seat still had its own screen to watch shows and movies or listen to music on demand and I ended up watching two indie films ("The Hurt Locker" and "Moon") which I wanted to see back in Eugene and then I fell asleep watching the Simpsons Movie.  They served two meals though and both were easily the best airline food I've ever had, hands down.  Also, I was near the back of the plane and they didn't fill most of the seats back there so everyone had just about three seats to themselves so I was able to spread out and lay down for a bit.  My original plan was to sleep very little on the plane (which happened) so then I would fall asleep here at the airport and get myself accustomed to this time zone.  We all know how that turned out as I'm wide awake right now.  Whatever.  This has still been a positive experience for me.

I haven't even reached my final destination yet and I've already accomplished quite a few firsts.  I don't think I've ever been to New York before but my first stop was at JFK International Airport.  I didn't actually leave the airport, but I was looking at the public transit maps from the airport and it was really cool to actually see all of the different neighborhoods and districts laid out.  I've read so many novels based in New York and seen so many shows/movies too, but to actually see them on a map a few stops away from you on a train is really cool.  Also, they're named after a lot of different international cities and I'm sure each definitely has its own culture.  I'd really like to spend some time in New York City one day just because I didn't expect to feel like such a small-towner with a dropped jaw when I got there.

Another first for me was flying out over the Atlantic.  I bet I've been on planes that have gone out over the ocean to turn around or something before, but it was awesome to actually fly across it.  The plane flew far north first along Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, etc. before cutting across Eastern Europe and Turkey to reach Doha.  Although I didn't actually go to this places (I haven't even really been to Doha or NYC), knowing that I was right above them was still a fascinating first for me.  I've definitely never been to the Middle East before, but here I am now and tomorrow I'll cross into the Southern Hemisphere for the first time.  I'll let you know how the toilets flush later.

I think I've already written a lot more than I wanted to or should have in this post, but I just wanted to let my friends and family know that everything so far is so good.  One last piece of good news before I go is that the outlet adapter for my plug isn't frying my laptop and battery right now.  Yay!!!