To-Do List From Hell

Plane tickets have been purchased. Visas are ready today. That's two things checked off a list of a gazillion.

Right now I'm obsessing about shoes. I am determined to take only one pair with me (and some flip-flops), one of those moderately fugly pairs of waterproof, lightweight hiking/sports shoes. They won't look too god-awful with my nice outfit for the official business, and they'll be better than taking sneakers. But this quest could consume the entire day, as I've already struck out at REI and Dick's.

Then there's all the other things to do today. Get a haircut, get the prescriptions filled, buy the mattress and boxsprings, and work on the house, which has its own subset of to-do items. Luckily, my family is coming up this weekend to pitch in. There are hundreds of little details -- this morning, I remembered I need to photocopy our passports (which are waiting to be picked up at the Vietnamese Embassy downtown). What else am I forgetting? And at some point this weekend, I'll probably need to go to the office. That to-do list almost reduces me to tears.

But I did sleep in today, despite all the stuff I have to do. I'm down to my last three opportunities to sleep in for quite some time.

The plane ride is really concerning me. We couldn't get "deluxe" for the trip over, so we'll be spending the trans-Pacific flight cramped in coach. Yes, the airline, EVA, is supposed to be wonderful, but I've got some long gams. And the layovers are looooooong. Thursday is going to be one long-ass day. Leave Dulles at 5:30, arrive in San Fran at 8 (11 p.m. our time), then leave San Fran at almost 2 a.m. local time, meaning almost 12 full hours of travel/layovers before we even leave the USA. Then another long layover in Taiwan before we get to HCMC.

I keep thinking of Lewis Black's bit on flying to New Zealand, where he says, "If you ever decide to fly to New Zealand...first take out a gun and shoot yourself in the head."

But layovers sound longer than they ever really are. The time will fly by! Right?

I'm on the fence about the long layovers on the way back. My hope is that at each one I will have enough energy to run Loc around the airport like I'm a bull and he's in Pamplona, to completely tire him out so that he sleeps on the next flight. But I wouldn't place any bets on that happening. The inverse will probably be true. To anyone on the three return flights, I apologize in advance.

Okay, it's 10:30 and I'm way behind schedule. Time to mark some things off the list.