Flying Out to Texas with the Bike

February 4, 2023

After the madness of the last two weeks, it was looking pretty marvelous to be heading to Texas for an actual holiday.

Paying cash for an extension at the last Airbnb. The host was truly a rock star.

An essential purchase: a phone bought in Canada that is compatible with Google Play Services. More on this later, not having one was a massive headache that dogged me for 3 years.

At the airport, check-in was a nightmare. Even before that, I had pre-set up my Uber account to work with Paypal and trialed it out by taking a car and my bike and a whole bunch of luggage to the airport. That worked, but later the Uber would fail big time.

As for flying, the first order of business was to shrink wrap the bike. The whole rigmoral of trying to get bike boxes or bags yesterday had clearly failed. Even the friendly packing guy was saying to check first with the airline or security to make sure they would accept it. I told him no worries, I've done this thing countless times. My mind went back to Bangkok. Why does it have to be so damn complicated in North America? If it is as simple as shrink wrap the bike and fly over there in Thailand, then it should be the same here too. I told my guy to go for it and if it didn't work out I'd deal with it later.

Walking to the check in some 500 meters away it was a good call. If I asked there, they would say some bullshit about needing to pack the bike in a box, and I would end up walking 500 meters right back to the packing guy anyway.

In the end the airline did accept the bike with the shrink wrap and they only charged an extra $20. However, the major hassle was going to be proof of covid vaccination. Thank fuck I had that and brought it from China just in case, but I was flabbergasted as to why in THIS point in the pandemic they still cared. Apparently the vaccine mandates were only for non-US citizens trying to fly in.

The airline asked multiple times if I had an English version. All I had was the Chinese version I had gotten a long time ago in Shanghai before the lockdown. I just smiled and said, "That's all I got" and "You guys probably don't see too many of these anyway." They went on their computer and checked and doubled checked that Sinopharm was an acceptable vaccine. Of course it is because it is WHO approved, and besides why does it even matter now at this point in the pandemic the vaccines don't do shit anyway, Chinese or Western. As my friend said, it is the governments holding onto the last vestiges of power and control from the pandemic era. Apparently the US government is the same too, at least when it comes to treating foreigners.

Next up, security. These guys were real sports, and were happy that I made their job easier with the shrink wrap. But unfortunately I was in such a foul and stressful mood from everything that happened prior that I didn't handle the US immigration pre-clearance very well. The mistake I made was in getting flustered over answering where my "home" was. To be honest I don't really know anymore, but I bungled it. I said "Yes" when they asked if it was Vancouver Canada while I didn't want to let on that my work and residence were in China. But they are professionals and they caught onto this and fished it out of me with a few more questions. Thankfully I had spent two weeks in Canada first, and they seemed to be satisfied with that, along with the fact I would be going back there first, and then back to China after all that. So they let me go.

After all that, DEFINITELY time for a drink.

I ended up mixing this with the water. Let's see who's smart now.

Made for a delicious in-flight cocktail because the airline was sure as hell not going to serve one.

Getting off the plane was quite the adventure. I had forgotten that US airports mix the arrivals with the departures and so I was thrust right out into all the restaurants and bars. It was tempting to indulge but decided it would be a lot smarter to tackle the upcoming challenges sober. And a good decision that was.

What I discovered was that when you go out for the baggage claim, there is no turning back so you better make sure it's the right belt. This took me a lot of time to check, double check, and triple check.

In the end I found my bike but it wasn't so simple. These baggage carts cost $6 and you of course need a credit card which I don't have. However I went upstairs to departures and sure enough, someone had abandoned a trolley which I used.

But the ATM wouldn't take my debit card.

The next part was a major clusterfuck. Since the Uber app on my phone had worked earlier, I figured it would be easy to use that to go to my Airbnb with the bike. I certainly did not feel like riding at night.

However, for some unknown reason, the interface all stopped working properly. I suspect, always have, is that the Uber and Paypal accounts don't function properly on my Huawei phone that I brought over from the mainland. The firmware is simply not compatible with Google Play. After fiddling with this over half an hour in the dark and cold arrivals area outside with no success, I gave up. In stressful situations like this, all it takes is one mistake and I lose focus and can't keep track of valuables. So I went back inside the airport with wifi and came up with a Plan B.

That plan was what I should have done all along. I used the Google Play Services compatible phone I had recently bought in Canada, hooked it up to the Wifi, installed Uber there, and set it up with a different Paypal account. Ironically it was the Paypal from China but I had to use it because all the earlier failed attempts with the North American Paypal had compromised my account and I have to call them to sort it out.

Once that was set up I confirmed an Uber ride and then set up a hotspot with my China phone so that I could use my North American phone outside the airport. The Uber showed up and the driver was awesome. Score!!!

Thinking on your feet. This is what I thrive on actually, despite the hardships. My wife was obviously worried about leaving me alone in Texas for a week, but I reassured her I would be OK. In all honestly, I have to do these things to sharpen my skills and solve challenges in a jam to keep my mind fresh. By being forced into situations like this where I have to rely on myself and succeed, it also has the effect of strengthening our marriage where I can solve problems for her and also both of us (as the first two weeks had proved)

The Uber successfuly got me and the bike to Denton where I found the Airbnb. But there was another problem: food. All this travel had made me starving. The only option I could find was a 15 minute walk nearby and I didn't want to deal with the bike just yet.

Unfortunately, getting cash out of the ATM was going to be the next hurdle. After multiple attempts, I finally got one working at CVS Pharmacy.

Found this machine also. One of these days.

Rather than buy high-calorie bread, I went for these instead.

I discovered one thing in these little adventure: gas stations are where you can find the slot machines. I thought gambling wasn't legal in Texas with the lack of casinos? Anyways, who knows, I'll learn as I go.

For now I put $5 in the machine and started winning a lot on the second spin. But the gas station attendant said, "Close the game and go." I then cashed out with some winnings and he shorted me. He was super unfriendly so I just left and let him keep the money he owed, this wasn't a battle worth fighting.

All in all a rather crazy day.

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Andrea BrownWelcome to Texas. Denton (snort), no less.
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