“The Royal Route”
9/4/15, “A
Familiar Departure”
John F.
Kennedy International Airport, New York
Six months
ago, in this very concourse, waiting to take this very flight, I wrote about
how much had changed in my life in the two years since I had previously taken
this flight. On the surface, almost
nothing since I wrote from here six months ago.
However, inside, everything has changed.
I was a broken wreck back then, on the verge of collapse. I will not detail what has changed, as I have already written more than
enough on those changes. I am happy with
my life right now, very happy, and that is a good thing.
I will not be going anywhere near exotic as
Iran, one of the many destinations I have visited from this terminal, nor will it
be as epic as an adventure as my World War I trip to Yugoslavia,
Austria-Hungary, and Turkey. No, this
will be relatively tame by comparison. I
will soon board the familiar Aeromexico flight 401, for the third time
now. What will be different is that I will
connect to Guadalajara once I land in Mexico City, and my regular tour guide,
Enrique, will be meeting me there. Just
as this is my third time aboard AM 401, this is my third time with
Enrique. The previous trips I mentioned,
we have based out of Mexico City, returning there each night, with Enrique
returning to his hotel room.
This time,
we are doing something different. We
will be overnighting in a different city each night, rooming together, making
our way back to Guadalajara on Monday, whence I will fly home at night. The nice thing about this flight is that the
flight is so late that I have time to pack and get ready after work before I
head to the airport.
Day 0 was another familiar
experience. One of my friends had slept
over, as we went to the midnight release of the Star Wars toys for the new
movie, not getting home until 2 AM. He
was gone before I woke up, and I got to work on time. We were let out at 3:30 PM, but I had wound
up staying until 5 PM, finishing up some last minute stuff.
I had my pre-departure lunch from Hop Won and
got my beard sheared off before heading to the cigar store for an Avo. I figured that I didn’t want to come back
through US border control from Mexico with a big thick beard. After work, I headed to cigar to finish my
Avo, followed by a new cigar, La Imperiosa.
(Technically these cigars do not count towards my Day 0 cigars, as I
went home to change before departing.
The trip didn’t begin until I put on my travelling suit.) My friend and I went to CPK for dinner, and I
then went to pick my suit and laundry, telling him I’d meet him back at my
place. When I got back, I lit up a new
OpusX, packed, showered, finished shaving, and got dressed. I then got a taxi and headed to the
airport.
It was such a familiar process
once I got to the airport, having taken this very flight twice before. When I got to security, the machine detected
something in that exact same spot on my leg it always does, just like it does
every time I where my freshly pressed suit.
I laughed about with the TSA officer as he perfunctorily patted my
leg. Freshly shaved and showered in my
suit, I probably looked a lot less suspicious than I would have with my thick
beard. It’s a good thing I shaved. I then headed to the gate, where I proceeded
to write this entry, which I will now close so that I can get something to eat
or drink.
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