A Jetlagged Christmas.

The flight home was brutal. I hit Bangkok's airport around 3:00 AM, waited for my 9:00 flight to Singapore and bid a hasty "goodbye and I'll see you in Utah" to my sister and friends. I slept hard on the flight over and made the long trek from the airport to my Singapore home — I'd forgotten enough Sing. cash to call a cab, hence the longer trek via public transport from the apartment. I had barely 24 hours in Singapore before I'd be back at the Changi airport but I tried not to think about that. There was zero food in the apartment, so I ran down to the corner store in my unshowered state to get some dinner ingredients (and some plane food for tomorrow) — I was ravenous and should have bought more Pringles. After a looooong shower and a scattered dinner I went to bed. Early. Oh, and I completely crashed that night — sleeping so hard I snoozed straight through my alarm but did wake up in time to make my flight, don't worry...but I had the beginnings of a sore throat. You know that swollen burning you hope goes away by morning but doesn't? It persisted all the way through the Guangzhou airport, the 5 hour layover and through the longer 14 hour flight to LAX; I hadn't gotten much sleep and had that annoying breathy cough you can't shake (and a peppermint hot cocoa can't even soothe?) when I landed.  I spent my whole string of flights sucking hard caramels and wishing the time away before freezing on the platform once I made it to Utah; Temperature wise, I was in SLC, that's for sure.

The Christmas break didn't exactly go as planned: week one was basically spent hacking, trying to swallow copious amounts of tea and binge watching Christmas movies while trying to battle jet lag. Week 2 was better: a magical snow came Christmas Eve and the holidays were lovely, spent with family, twinkling Christmas lights, and lots of foods I'd missed while in Asia. The sisters and I got more than a few thrift shopping runs in (complete with a score of Ikea plates and a rad plaid) and there was lots of get togethers with good friends. Cheese plates, and cakes, and lots of Mexican food with excellent conversation. That's one of the "behind the scenes" aspects of this passport stamped life: I dislike the stress of being home for just a scant number of days, running from appointments and calendared lunch dates. I crave that normalcy of being able to just reschedule for next week instead of penciling in friends in my calendar- who does that? Oh, but I digress. It went all too quickly and I soon found myself repacking my carry on (it was mostly food...but really. I crammed a box of cereal in instead of packing an extra outfit) and made the stormy drive for a very early flight from SLC to LAX. There was a horrendous 17 hour layover in LAX which included a frustrated yours truly when my bags couldn't be checked. Thank heavens for a family friend who lives in this sunny state who was willing to lug my luggage around in her car and take me out for some beach time and Greek food before taking me back so I could make my flight to Shanghai. 6 more hours on a plane and I'd landed back in Singapore. I can't wait to get an avocado shake.