Launch Hangover

So I made it.  Sort of.  In a peculiar way.

Here I am in Vancouver Airport, post-launch, drinking a mocha, watching an enormous fish tank next to a large fake pond that Canadians seem to be so fond of.

I am definitely feeling weird.  The past 24 hours did not go to plan, and the future is, putting it mildly, murky.  I am in limbo both metaphorically and physically.  A long layover forces you to stop running for a minute and gives one a chance to reflect.

Most people about to go away on a vacation know that feeling of panic the day before your flight leaves.  A hundred things must be done and the clock is ticking.  Not until the plane lifts off do you finally think "Thank God!  I made it."  Usually followed quickly by, "Oh crap.  I forgot my [insert expletive] [insert random travel item]."

Well, when one travels for an entire year, that list of a hundred things becomes a thousand.  And the margin for error is slim to none.  If you don't care of something before you leave, you are toast.  That reminder letter to please pay your doctor co-pay?  6 months later it becomes a collection letter, followed shortly by a hand grenade blasting your credit rating to dust for 7 years.  (Yes I speak from experience on that one.)

So to say I've been in a state of sheer panic for the last 72 hours would not be much of an understatement.  I counted 6 hours of sleep in the last 2.5 days.  Last night, the clock won.  I was trying to cart a few last boxes into storage at 11pm.  Unbeknownst to me, the storage place "after-hours" aren't very much "after" the regular hours.  My access codes didn't work, and I had to be at the airport at 4am.  As the realization hit that I had no hope of storing my valuables hit me (among the boxes was my PC with all my photos, music, etc.), I just started laughing.  I had to admit defeat.  I would sort it out somehow.

And today, here I stand, about to embark into the heart of darkness, blackouts, food shortages, and, oh yeah, nuclear fallout.

I should be euphoric that I am about to launch into the greatest adventure of my life.  As fate would have it, I take a nasty packing hangover into the Apocalypse.