I am much more likely to miss my flight the longer I have to wait.

Sitting in the Seattle airport, S Terminal – A,B,C,D,S? – I was ready for my flight to Taipei an hour early due to my cute little thrift store dumb watch still being on Mountain Time. Lollygagging around at the other end of the terminal where there were less people and significantly more monks, I got up to hit the lou right as boarding was to start.

This of course is based on the experience that if my zone is 5, it’s gonna be at least 15 minutes with all the various boarding groups and premier access. To my surprise, while fiddling with my bag post restroom, pre-stroll to the gate, the final boarding announcement was called for my flight 7 minutes after boarding started.

Obviously what comes next is a panic and dash across the small but crowded terminal, but I made it. By a lot actually they called final boarding like 4 times I didn’t have to run.

But! The reason for the swift boarding became clear as I got on the plane, definitely one of the final passengers. It was practically empty.

Joy! Joyous joy! I was, as ever with air travel, resigned to stuffing my six foot frame into an economy seat of doom for this 12h30m flight. I can’t tell you how stoked I was to realize I had a WHOLE ROW to myself.

3 seats! 3 TV’s! 3 pillows!

After setting myself up to watch Sinners, a movie I usually wouldn’t pick with seat-mates because Sinners out of context on a neighboring screen would be … a lot? I used screen 2 of 3 to play angry birds and settled into my divine and luxuriously horizontal airplane lifestyle.

Long flights you can lounge on are no problem. Somewhere between here and there, in a tube in the sky, books and movies and snacks, with the duel advantage of both a window to lean on and no one to have to nudge to get up and walk around.

Woke up to the smell of an actually very decent breakfast (EVA Air food slaps) and then descended into Taipei rested and ready for whatever is next, and what’s after that, and the next thing.