10 Cities on Standby

First and foremost, I think the reason why I am here in Taiwan would be an appropriate beginning to this post. This past year I returned to school for my second bachelors degree in Asian Studies, a topic that I have always been interested in, but have never actually pursued (and no it's not because I have an Asian girlfiriend that caused me to major in Asian Studes, at which point I would respond "I actually want to study Asian anatomy" *laughter ensues*). For years I have found myself close with Asian culture and have some sort of magnetism towards peoples of Asian descent, but this is neither here nor there, well possibly there, but not here.  During the first semester of my new major I caught wind about a new scholarship opportunity to study in Taiwan and determined to get as much experience out of this new major as possible I applied and long story short, with a little bit (probably a lot) of luck I received it and was due to leave for Taiwan at the end of May. This is where today's post will begin.

As the title suggests all my flights to Taoyuan, Taiwan were, you guessed it, on standby. For those of you that don't quite understand what that means it is when you book a ticket for a certain flight, but are not guaranteed a seat until all of the rest of the passengers have boarded the plane. I know that sounds pretty crazy, "Vadim, why the hell would you book a standby ticket when you aren't guaranteed a seat on the plane!?" The answer is pretty simple, they're cheap as hell. A round trip ticket to Taiwan was going for 1,800, I got it for 850. Sounds pretty awesome now doesn't it? Well it's a double edged sword and you need to be quite flexible with your schedule.

My trip began at BWI Airport in Baltimore, MD where my father dropped me off for my 7am flight that arrived in JFK airport in New York, NY at 8am. My next proposed flight didn't fly out until 2pm so I asked my cousin Ilya if he wanted to grab some lunch at whatever local restaurant was convenient. I suppose one could classify Ilya as a "guido" of sorts and I would be lying if I said nobody every had, but the deep relationship I have with my cousin prevents me from placing this derogatory label on an otherwise much more diverse, intelligent, intricate, and eclectic person. Of course, he agreed to meeting me one last time before I left the country for three months, but obviously, no sane person would pick me up at 8am on a Wednesday to get food so I waited around the airport until about 11 where he picked me up and we proceeded to drive to the ever so prestigious Burger King. That's how high rollers like to spend their lunch hours. Ilya dropped me back off at the airport around 1pm and I walked to my gate to get ready for my 13 hour flight.

Coincidentally, this gate was directly across from the gate I departed from when I traveled to Italy with my parents, also on standby. I turn the corner to get to the gate and it is completely packed with people, but then again so was the Italy flight and we boarded with no problem; however, the blog wouldn't be called 10 cities if I boarded this flight now would it? Apparently, the plane had a "weight distribution problem," this phrase would haunt my peregrination. Not only was there a weight distribution problem and hundreds of passengers there were at least 12 other standby passengers, all with higher seating priority than myself. All the passengers board around 1:47pm and they Delta employees begin rattling off names and frantically typing on their computers desperately trying to fit as many people onto the plane as possible. It was like a scene out  of a movie, the employees were speedily typing on their computers, more employees were arriving to help decipher some complicated seating arrangements on the computer screen, long polygraph-looking papers are spouting out of a printer behind them, all the while I am nervously tapping my passport and boarding pass on my sweaty palm.
"What am I going to do if I miss this flight? I need to register for classes on Friday and there is no way I am going to make it if I miss this flight," I say to myself. An engaged couple are talking next to me about how they want to take an engagement vacation (who does that anyway? wait for the honeymoon). The Delta employees begin rattling off standby names in a way that makes no apparent sense to me. It is approximately 1:57pm at this point.
"S3? Are there any S3s?" "We've got to close the doors! We're going to hear it from the boss, but we can let one more group on!" the attendants converse among themselves.
"Please be me, please be me, damn it I really need to get on this flight. I'm only one person!" I thought to myself.
"You, we can take you let's go!" the employees grab a group of three guys going on vacation. "Alright, that's it! Close it up, John!"
I'm standing there taken aback by the fact that now everything has been thrown into disorder.

To be continued....