In Taiwan

The longest leg of the flight is over, and it's 6:30 a.m. in Taipei.

The plane out of Dulles was almost two hours late, but we got bulkhead seats and still had a long layover in San Francisco. We had dinner with Red and Christy (sorry if we're spelling your name wrong!) and hung out for a while with them in the terminal. It was a long day, however -- midnight our time while we were having dinner.

Then came the long wait in the international terminal before finally leaving the US at 1:40 a.m. West Coast time. The flight on EVA was great. Bulkhead seats again -- jackpot -- and then after dinner and a couple Tylenol PM's, it was off to dreamland. There was so much food on the EVA flight that we've barely dug into the Big Bag o' Snacks. The flight was over 12 hours, but we both got a lot of sleep and are feeling good, awake, rested here in Taipei.

The airport is beautiful, with art displays and an orchid garden. But already we're feeling the stickiness in the air. We've got about 2 and a half hours before we head on to Saigon.

At some point over the Pacific, I had an OMG-Am-I-Really-Doing-This? moment. It still doesn't seem real. Parts of it feel like we're in an episode of "The Amazing Race," with all this time running from one airport terminal to the next.

The flight to Saigon is about 3 and a half hours. Then the adventure really begins.