18:30 Emma's family drops us off at the Salt Lake City Airport. We check in our luggage and proceed to the gate where we hope to find Ember waiting for us. Bummer! Ember is not waiting for us. While Emma freshens up I make a telephone call to a dear friend who is dying of cancer. I have a feeling that this is the last time I will hear her voice. Time will later prove me right. Rest in peace Gwyn! We love you and will miss you until its our time to meet you again.

Ember joins us right before the gate closes. After a few final snapshots we board the plane. Unfortunately, we are not able to sit together. Emma makes the sacrifice and sits by herself. I sit by Ember who has already lost the friendship of her fellow travelers by accidentally calling out "pillow fight" when trying to toss a pillow to Emma.

19:20 Delta Flight 1457 from Salt Lake City to San Francisco. By the time we clear the airport Ember has lost many friends. Many may have found her loud and obnoxious. We only find her cute and charming. She's not entirely at fault: Just over the Great Salt Lake we begin to hear strange sounds from the landing gear. The captain tells us over the intercom that we need to head back because the landing gear won't contract. The only problem lies in the fact that we are carrying too much fuel to land so begin flying around in circles to burn enough fuel to meet the weight requirement to land. The passengers are just a tad furoius. The three of us are just a little concerned because our connecting flight departs only once a week.

20:30 Delta Flight 1457 from Salt Lake City to San Francisco.

22:00 Arrive in San Francisco.

22:30 We cross the gate to the international section of the San Francisco airport which isn't really kept in that great of shape compared to its U.S. counterpart. We check in our bags at the desk of Singapore Airlines. The agent at the desk makes our day by arranging for the three of us to sit together on the flight.

23:00 After checking out the food prices at the international gates (and a courtesy call for a Mr. John Pansy) we eat at a combo restaurant. After eating we find some benches to fall asleep on while we wait. While waiting Ember calls her credit card company to inquire about getting approved for an increased credit limit. She is refused. We also meet two girls from Germany. They have been travelling for a month and are trying to find a flight out to Hawaii. We wish them the best and head out to our gate. There are literally hundreds of people at our gate, many of them young children.

June 6th, 2000

1:45 Pre-flight prayer.

1:50 Board Boeing 747 Singapore Airlines Flight 1 from San Francisco to Singapore (via Hong Kong.) We all try to sleep. Emma has the most success (bless her heart.) After some time they serve us dinner. Later, we develop a rotation system that allows the person sitting in the middle seat to stretch out and sleep. After hours of sleeping and watching movies (everything from "The Wizard of Oz" to coverage of The Australian Open) they begin to serve us breakfast. One of the stewardesses asks Ember if she would like coffee or tea. Ember replies: "No Hong Kong!"

6:00 Arrive in Hong Kong. Our flight distance is 11115 km. Our flight time is approximately 13 hours 15 minutes. The Hong Kong airport is very clean. Ember wants to pick up some Chinese currency and we are informed that USD $3.00 will get us a full set of HK coins. We each buy a set and then begin looking for for a travel log for Ember. Before we are able to hit any of the shops she spills all of her coins. In one of the stores I purchase a set of postcards, a cool box of chopsticks, and a boxed fan made from a heavily scented wood. After brushing my teeth for the first time with foreign water I meet back up with the girls. While waiting to board the plane, Ember has me run through some Yoga stretches with her.

7:00 We board the plane. We all dread spending even a minute more on this beast. Emma jokes that she wishes she had a copy of Sports Illustrated with her to read. We all agree that Hong Kong airport is a rock!

7:15 Continue Singapore Airlines Flight 1 from Hong Kong.

11:20 Arrive in Singapore. Our flight time is approximately three hours, five minutes. We realize immediately that Singapore is quite a bit more humid than Hong Kong. After exchanging currency and cleaning up in the restrooms we book a free tour of the city through the airline and scheduled for 14:00 local time.

12:00 Spend more time looking for a travel log for Ember.

12:30 Lunch at A&W in the Singapore airport. Hmmmmm... Well, the food really isn't that great.

13:30 Wait at the Koi fishpond in the airport for the tour to begin.

13:45 Bus tour of Singapore - Ember & Emma take a bus seat and I share one with a businessman from Australia. I can't remember his name but he is very nice and spends a lot of time in Bangladesh where his business is situated. Our drive through the city is incredible! This place is so green and has so many trees. Our tour guide is the most unfriendly person I've ever met. Oh well! The tour itself was an incredible bargain (it being totally free!) The bus drops us off to continue the tour by boat. Downtown Singapore is beautiful. It has both the oldest buildings and the tallest as well. Aside from the huge buildings the funnest sight is the celebrated MerLion, which makes for quite a show in the evening time (so we are told.) After we dock and return to the buses it begins to rain. The rain in Singapore is great: soft and warm! Upon returning to the airport we find our departure gate and the girls quickly fall asleep on the floor. While they sleep I talk to two young men from India who only want to talk about the NBA playoffs. They are nice enough to share a Kit Kat with me, and give me some advice about travelling in their in country.
After talking to the young men, I too fall asleep. However, before I do, I talk to both Ember and Emma who both wake up momentarily and at different times. Ember rambles on about work or something and Emma wakes up, points to Ember, and begins asking about her cousin. Hmmmm! Both fall asleep and I soon follow. I'm not sure how long I sleep before Ember and Emma wake me up to board our next flight. For some reason I wake up in a panic and I tell both of them about the terrible feeling I have about us getting on this flight. It probably wasn't the best thing to do. They both get a little freaked out. But later, as I get my wits about me, I realize I do this same sort of thing when I'm exteremely tired and quickly woken up. We keep the faith and board the flight.

18:50 Depart Singapore from Gate 11.
This flight almost seems the longest maybe because we can't stand the thought of being on a plane any longer. Ember and Emma fall asleep immediately. I try to eat all of the food they serve because I have a feeling that it may be my last safe meal for awhile. Later, Emma gets grossed out by some guy sitting ahead of us who keeps burping and picking his nose and eating it. Ugggghhh!

21:45 Arrive at Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport. Our flight distance was approximately 4161 km and our flight time was just under five hours.
From the moment we get off the plane in Delhi we finally begin to feel that we are far away from home. The boarding tunnels are solid marble and the airport is so dirty. We proceed to customs where a customs agent tries hitting on the two gals: "Only one beautiful lady at a time!" he says. We then move on to the baggage claim hopeful that our luggage has made it from San Francisco. As it turns out, ours is the last to make it off. We don't care! We are just happy to have it.