Waiting

Six hours.

Six. Long. Hours. And I'm not waiting for hospital treatment. I'm waiting for my next flight to bring me closer to Middle Earth. I wish I could leave the airport and explore Vancouver like I did three years earlier but I can't. I have to wait before I'm in the air again. I feel like the American ground forces waiting for the order to storm into Iraq during Gulf War I, only to be done in 100 hours. In my case, a 6 hour wait for a 2 hour flight.

Luckily, I write this after surviving the first three hours and all I can say is that I'm going nuts! Okay, maybe not, but finding things to do is a challenge. In the first three hours, I've gone through USA customs, transferred my luggage, started a BLOG, checked my e-mail, ate lunch, and visited the bathroom several times. It's getting tiresome dragging my laptop & backpack everywhere I go but better than having to do that with the rest of my luggage! I suppose I could find something to read.

I only have a small, wandering bird to keep me company. He or She must have flown into the terminal through a door and survives on food that passengers have dropped. I've already fed it some of my nuts. Cashew nuts to be exact. The bird has disappeared for now, maybe airport staff let it out, but maybe it'll come back before I have to board my flight.

Oh wait. I can hear the bird, chirping; probably singing about its wanting freedom. Now it's flown closer and eating some crumbs off a chair behind me. It hops across the chairs, its search for food never ending. It's gone again, to the safety of the ceiling. It'll be back.

I should savour this long wait because I'll soon be in LAX for a short period then flying over the Pacific to Auckland, and I doubt I'll use my laptop in the air. I hope there won't be any crying babies or annoying passengers on the trans-Pacific flight.

Well, that's pretty much it for now.

And the wait goes on . . .