Sept 3: Journey to the other side of the world

The beginning of each journey is always the most exciting part for me. Nothing has unfolded. All surprises, pleasant or not, are still hatching in their secret shells. What is to come? For the next six weeks, as someone whose mind is relatively free (as I am officially unemployed right now), I shall eagerly await each day and be open to whatever mystery the universe is ready to reveal.

I left Ottawa during its "unofficial summer". We had a cold and rainy summer in July and August. The beginning of September brought hot and sunny days - the first time we actually felt the presence of summer in the city. Saying goodbye to Kenny wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Being the great husband that he is, Kenny kept reassuring me on the way to the airport that we are only going to be apart for 26 days and an exciting time is waiting for me in Shanghai. I couldn't think of a more precious quality in a soulmate - someone who is always capable to showing you the silvering lining, even during the most severe storm.

The first leg of the journey is from Ottawa to Chicago with United Airlines. The U.S. security wasn't half as bad as I thought. The only difference between the U.S. security and the Canadian one is that they scrutinized my check-in luggage for a full 10 minutes (I half expected some questions about the 5 pounds of ginseng I bought. The largest ginseng must resemble weapons of minute destruction under an X-Ray. But the question never came). I also had to remove my shoes. I really didn't mind that - I actually wanted to leave my shoes off and walk around bare-feet! What a free feeling that would be.

Despite the thunder storm that was looming over Chicago, the flight was quite smooth. The turbulence didn't even spill a single drop of wine from the glass that belonged to the lady next to me. I arrived in Terminal 1 in Chicago and found out that I need to depart from Terminal 5 - the International Terminal, which is in a completely separate building. The walk to the train station was a long one but not boring at all. The tunnel is decorated with funky neon strands resembling waves of color. I simply stopped on the automatic sidewalk and enjoyed the light - of course, I was the only one stopping. Everybody was rushing past me and looking back curiously. Seriously, next time you are in an airport, just try to observe how many people are stopped on the automatic sidewalk. My bet is none.

Walking off the train into Terminal 5 was like walking into a different world. All of a sudden, I was surrounded by a population made up mostly of visible minorities. Asians, Middle Easterns and Africans. The caucasian race is outnumbered here. Interestingly, I feel much more at home in this terminal than anywhere else. The terminal is crowded - the first reason why I felt at home (Shanghai has a population of 20 million). To my disappointment, the food court in Terminal 5 served surprisingly non-international food. At first I was lured by a poster that said "Visit our Food Court". It featured a beautiful picture of sushi and teriyaki. My mouth started to water. But guess what is available in the food court? Here is a running list:

Lou Mitchell's Express (wraps and coffee)
Gold Coast Dogs (you can guess what they serve)
Pizzeria Uno
McDonald's (with the biggest crowd of customers) and
Parade's Bar

No sushi, no teriyaki, not even a lousy Manchu Wok. I washed down half a tuna wrap with a cafe latte. That will have to do until I get my yummy ration from Asiana Airlines.

The airport has wi-fi access in all terminals. Having never tried wi-fi in an airport, I tried to connect. The redirect page took me to Boingo Hotspot. I found out that a 24-hour day pass cost $6.95. That is not an unreasonable charge for access. But I didn't buy it, for two reasons. One, security. I am not sure how secure the wi-fi access is in an airport. The intro page said nothing about security and I had no interest in having my laptop hacked into. Two, convenience. The last thing I am going to do is to sit in a crowded terminal food court, pull out my Visa card and enter my credit information on a webpage for a bit of Internet access. During our IT Management course at Queen's, the professor talked about infrastructure as one of the building blocks for new technology. I couldn't agree more. There are wi-fi pockets all over the world. Wouldn't it be great if they are somehow connected? Paying one amount to your trusted service provider will allow you to use wi-fi anywhere in the world. I am sure that would be attracive to frequent travelers. For the non-travelers, again, paying a fee to your service provider allows you to use wi-fi services in specified locations. In today's world where fraud is becoming more rampent, trust and security has to be the top concerns in technology consumers' minds.