After a month of going-away parties (yes, we realize how obnoxious that was), we are finally out of the States! We have arrived safely in Manila, Philippines.

And now for some delirious, jet-lagged thoughts about the plane that we flew on direct from Denver to Tokyo:

I didn’t realize we were taking a friggin spaceship to Asia. The new 787 Dreamliner? Spaceship. Yes, the same spaceship that was catching on fire for the first couple months (that was a fun epiphany while we were boarding…). But they’re all fixed now! It was like being in the future. If I would’ve known, I would’ve dressed in nicer clothes than travel pants and a wicking t-shirt. Except that I didn’t pack anything nicer.

The Dreamliner: USB outlet for every seat. Power outlet between the seats. Windows where the glass automagically tints itself. When they turned out the lights in the middle of the day (which was the duration of the 12-hour flight), the green glow from the windows made it feel like we were inside a giant fishbowl. Bathrooms were greater than the typical 1 cubic foot and where washing your hands isn’t a complicated ordeal…. I guess the bar was pretty low. The food still sucks. Except for the ice cream which Matt and I turned into Coke floats (wassup Vinay).

The best part is that the Denver to Tokyo flight was direct. If these planes hadn’t been busy catching on fire back in April, maybe I wouldn’t have ditched Raymond at LAX on our connection when we returned from Japan (true story; I’m an ass).

The flight was punctuated by various looks between me and Matt expressing the same sentiments: What are we doing?! What the hell did we get ourselves into? This seemed like a good idea 6 months ago…

So far, Manila is hot and humid. It’s 11:30pm, 80 degrees with 79% humidity. What is it going to be like during the daytime?! Based on what we’ve seen since arrival (at 9pm in the dark….), Manila does not seem to have been affected by the typhoon. Also, the club outside our hostel is blasting Wrecking Ball right now… Just when I thought I’d escaped having to hear it for a year. But it is becoming apparent that all I’m going to hear for the next year is American pop music. >_<

Well, that didn’t take long: Matt and I are scheduled to play ultimate 4 days out of the next 5. Matt likes to point out that, prior to the trip, I repeatedly said, “I’m not really interested in playing ultimate on this trip…”

Touche, Matt. Touche.

The current plan is to hang out in Manila through the weekend because the Manila Spirits tournament is the 15th-17th, and then we’ll move on to Palawan next week.