Sleepover in the SFO

San Francisco International Airport @ 2:00am

Because of an unexpected three hour delay, my 9:45pm departure from Las Vegas to San Francisco became a 12:30am red-eye flight. Ironically, it was one of the most comfortable flights I've ever been on given the fact that there were more rows than passengers. Nothing says comfort like the opportunity to lounge across three seats and look out the window without that awkward need to share the view with the people next to you.

Travel Tip #1: If you ever get the option, late night flights can provide you first-class comfort at an economic price.

One of Several Family of Strangers

Airports this early in the morning have an entirely different atmosphere than the usual hustle and bustle characteristic of any other time of day. It's less impersonal and more communal. While waiting for the airlines to open, complete strangers can find comfort and security by sleeping in a shared area of the airport, each maintaining his or her own private sphere while not being alienated from another. Sometimes conversations are started and temporary friendships are formed.

I mention this because I just had a brief conversation with a fellow airport inhabitant. Interesting fact: Filipino men who migrated to America have this uncanny ability to identity other Filipinos and have a compelling urge to initiate conversation in Tagalog for the sake of connecting back to their roots. Although I could understand a word or two, I had to admit to him that I wasn't fluent when he tried talking with me. Fortunately, he knew English. Unfortunately, I know this won't be the case while I'm in Spain.

If I haven't mentioned it before, my Spanish fluency is limited to the following words: yes and no, left and right, hello and goodbye, please and thank you, bathroom and various foods, and the numbers 1-10, 14, 15, and 20. It will be less than 24 hours until I will be an utter foreigner in Spain. I have less than 24 hours to study the language to aid my survival. Check back daily to see how I fare.