Airports, airplanes, family and friends

On a hectic trip to the United States, I flew out of 12 different airports in 18 days and drove about 800 miles in two rental cars. The two rental cars cost me as much as the 11 flights. After all the travel I've done in my life, you would think I'd have a better grip on the money needed to rent a car.You'd be wrong. Same thing happens to me when I buy glasses, which I've been doing my entire life. I let wishful thinking and low-ball estimates take precedence over reality. But as I like to say in Vietnam, tien den, tien di (money comes, money goes). Sometimes I'll jokingly say: Phuong den, tien di. That's not really true, although it always gets a laugh from Phuong's dad. I saw my son Jack, my brother Charles for the first time in about 16 years, my new granddaughter; a bunch of friends and family, and lots of the United States. I got told on several occasions how fat I've gotten, and how much I've aged. Can't argue with either point, but I don't give a crap.
Most of the airports I went to and the airlines I flew were fairly well run and organized. JFK required persistence on my part to find out where the hell I was going since there were no information kiosks or friendly faces at the JetBlue terminal. And the trains taking travelers like me to different terminals on their changeovers were out of order. So I scrambled and found a bus from terminal 5 to terminal 1 and arrived at my departure gate with 30 minutes to spare. The stewardesses on my 16-hour, 40-minute Eva Airlines flight from New York to Taipei were grumpy and snippy, but otherwise my time in the air was OK. (One Eva stewardess twice barked at me to buckle my seatbelt and bring my seat forward. Oddly, my seatbelt was buckled and my seat was forward, but I just said OK and she moved on.) I watched a bunch of movies -- Moonlight (excellent); Lion (pretty good film about an Indian youth); 42 (Jackie Robinson biopic); and Draft Day (entertaining film about Cleveland Browns GM played by Kevin Costner). Read a few books as well. In all, I spent 22 hours in the air coming home. The planes encountered strong headwinds the entire way.
As I noted, my time in the U.S. was fine and dandy. I lost some tennis matches but didn't get injured, ate great food thanks to my ex-wife Lynda, my kind and generous friends Andy and Jane V., and my brother Tom and his wife Shaila. I saw buddies John, Ron and Tommy, and most important, met my first grandchild Frances. She's a beautiful girl just like her mom, and mom and baby are doing great.
Thanks to Lynda and Charlie for getting me a hotel room, to John, Ron, and Andy and Jane for giving me a  place to sleep, and to Vic for recommending a good beer.
Phuong and Joanna met me at the airport, and Joanna smiled and laughed the entire ride home. She didn't say a word about my weight or age either, but seemed genuinely thrilled I was home. I'm thrilled as well. It's nice to be back.