What day is it?

After months of anticipation, the day to depart for Indonesia had finally arrived. We got in the car and started our drive up to Seattle to catch our flight. Kyle and Lindsay were nice enough to give us a ride up I5 (great job keeping your eyes on the road Kyle). 

Like excited, inexperienced travelers, we left 7 hours before our departure time but that gave us plenty of time to search for a terrific spot for dinner. Somehow we ended up at a biker bar called Smarty Pants in Tacoma. Despite the motorcycles hanging from the ceiling and race pictures on the wall I knew we were in a biker bar when the waiter recommended "The Miss Piggy" sandwich as "fucking rad." Alrighty then, let's have the Miss Piggy!  

A toast to our trip and for good luck and off we go on Flight BR 255 to Taipei. 

The joy and giddiness we initially felt as we boarded the plane soon gave way to leg cramps, monkey butt and sleep deprivation (got to love economy class). Though I appreciated Eva Airlines attempt to feed us during the flight I typically prefer to know what I'm eating before I dig in. Thank goodness we brought corn nuts and granola bars. We landed in Taipei for our layover on May 1 and it occurred to me that crossing over the international dateline going west we essentially lost April 30. Considering I spent it cramped in tiny seats with 400 of my not so close friends eating leftovers from Fear Factor I don't feel bad for missing it. 

After some authentic Asian food in Taipei (still not sure what we ate)

we got a special treat flying in the "hello kitty" air plane.  

Didn't mean much to me but apparently it's like boarding the Mickey Mouse express back home.  Wasn't that memorable other than the wasabi pea snacks they served. 

We FINALLY made it to Bali at 4 pm Sunday afternoon and I'd love to show you the picture I took of the long line at the immigration checkpoint but I don't have it. You see, I forgot taking pictures there is prohibited. Oops. The immigration patrol officer didn't like that I took a picture and approached me and told be to delete the picture. OK. He then told me to remove it from my deleted picture folder. OK. Wait, I don't know how to do that. Oops again. I asked if I could use one of my "life lines" and fortunately Jenna helped me out. Without Jenna this might have been a very short trip. 

We FINALLY caught up with Marv, my college roommate, at the hotel who will be our tour guide here and we then met up with his friends David and Dini. We had a wonderful walk on the beach and a terrific rib meal at Hog Wild. 

Between the time zone change, the plane changes, the layover and international date line I don't even know what day it is and guess what?  I don't care.  I am very happy we made it safely and am ready to start exploring Indoniesia.