To Thailand

Benjamin boarded an Eva Airways flight to Bangkok via Taipei about midnight on November 20 to attend his uncle's wedding and visit with his Thai relatives.

He'd been through the standard tight security at SFO with little fuss. Thankfully, his name has not hit the security watch list. He had no shoes that needed removing, nor any laptop to take out of his bag. He just dumped his stroller on the conveyor belt, and cruised through without any alarming beeps. Like so many of his needs, the stroller magically reappeared just when he wanted it.

Ben is an important guy, so they called his name for boarding early: "Passengers with infants may now begin boarding." Infant(s)? That's me, thought Ben! With his parents, the passangers, he sauntered on board.

He kicked back in his mom's arms until the "fasten seat belt" sign was removed. He might have thought at that time of heading to the the lavatory they had mentioned over the PA system. Many of the other passangers rushed to cram into this room, but Ben saw no purpose in this. Again, like so many of his needs, things resolved themselves. A makeshift lavatory appeared out of thin air. Boom! Compliments of his aunts who had gifted it for Dad's birthday, Ben's diaper bag opened. Out came the diapers, towelettes, etc. Just like when I poop at home, he thought!

All cleaned up, Ben settled into his personal infant bed. This was, relatively, far more spacious than any other seat on the plane. In fact, it was easily as spacious as his bed at home. And, though not without a modest hit to his parent's bank account, was far less expensive than any other seat on the plane.

Good things happen to happy people. Ben's a pretty happy guy. So I guess he generally counts on good things happening for him.

Ben mainly slept the flight away. Nestled in his luxurious and spacious infant bed, he awoke only for meals. He didn't even really awake for that magical lavatory (the aunt's diaper bag gift) to do its trick of cleaning him up from time-to-time.

Nope, while most of the passengers worked with their special collection of personal comforts - iPods, neck pillows, stacks of magazines -- to pass the time, Ben just put one of his over sized hands on his belly and the other up to his chin in his classic contemplative pose. He slept.

At meal time, many of the passengers had specially prepared meals -- low sodium, vegetarian, etc -- that they had pre-ordered. Ben had not pre-ordered anything. But without amazement, he awoke also to find a specially prepared meal. And though this special meal of his came in no standard air-cuisine package, the flight attendants happily offered to heat it up for him.

Good things happen to happy people. Ben's a happy guy. He pretty much finds that good things happen for him, I guess.

Landing in Taipei was easy. Many of the other passengers pulled out their personal bag of tricks to deal with the ear problems that often accompany landings -- blowing into plugged noses, drinking hot water, extra swallowing, and chewing on gum. Ben just snacked on one of those specially prepared meals.

His ears were fine.

He happily arrived in Taipei to immediately find some very likable things about Asia.