Time travelers

Just two days in to 2011, I put sweetie pie senior and sweetie pie junior on a plane bound for the US. Had to be one of my more odd moments. Sending the two things I love most in life to the other side of the world all at once.

But, I enjoyed the thought of the two of them exploring the Singapore and Moscow airports together and doing some male bonding without "mom" butting in every five minutes and their being travel companions for the next 30 + hours.

Yes, there will be sleeping and movie watching during that time but it is the shared experience of making the journey together that will not be forgotten. I am sure they will compare notes on the action flicks they watch or the fun animated movies they view and who had what for dinner. But as with many men, it is just the closeness of proximity that makes them feel happy and secure. The need for deep, meaningful conversation is not massively necessary and in fact, many times, seems to impede the process of just being. Maybe their is a lesson here that could be useful for a "mom" like me.

Take off was at 8:40pm, Jakarta time on Sunday. They landed in Singapore about an hour and a half later. The longest layover of the trip was there and they didn't take off again until 2:20am. About 1:00pm, Jakarta time on Monday, I got a Skype call. It was my guys calling me from the Moscow airport. It was about 8am on Monday there. Stay with me now cause with this International Date Line thingy, it gets very confusing.

While I was sleeping, very early Tuesday morning here (3:00am if you are trying to keep up), they landed in Houston. For them it is 2:00pm in the afternoon on Monday. From take off to landing was about 30 and a half hours. This of course doesn't include the travel time to and from each airport. Ladies and gents. It is a long travel experience.

After I really thought about all of this, I am now in amazement that I can even make a sentence once I arrive. No wonder my body is so confused when I do this trip!

It is now almost 4:00pm here in Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon. They are all snuggled down in their respective beds snoring away I hope. My guess is that in about an hour, maybe two, they are going to be wide awake on Tuesday morning on US soil. The first few days your wake-sleep cycle is so messed up you are up at four or five in the morning and semi comatose by seven that night.

Even though it is tough on our bodies, it is a marvel that we have the ability to go all the way from one side of the planet to the other in a reasonably short time. It is also a marvel that you can use your computer to stay in touch with those left behind or waiting for you during this process.

Who knows, maybe real time travel will come to be and you will be able to teleport from one place to the next like in Star Trek. There will probably still be "teleport lag", but maybe you won't feel quite so beat up once you get there. In the mean time, bless you Orville and Wilbur. You really started something big. Oh, and St. Christopher, you've done a outstanding job so far. Keep it up.