Day 346– March 19, 2015

Plane travel shortens distances and commodifies the exotic. I sit in a chair while the Earth hurtles below to appear magically somewhere else and shockingly different, yet the cramped flying experience remains universally the same. Our first flight carried Greg and I from San Francisco over 14 arduous hours to Taipei. Counseled to stay awake for only the first part of the flight to avoid jet lag, I dutifully watched an animate short, then two movies, followed by nine hours of seated sleep.

The International Date Line ate the 19^th of March so we leave the San Francisco airport on the 18^th but reach Vietnam on the 20^th. We land in tropical Ho Chi Minh City, better named formerly as exotic Saigon.

In less than an hour, we capably navigate airport immigration (our entry visas cost us each $150 back at San Francisco’s Vietnamese consulate), clear customs, and even hop a bus from the airport to Ho Chi Minh City center for fitty cents each. Even the hotel knows we are coming.