brainylady

A latte kind of day

Every morning I pick up a medium-sized coffee of the day on my way to work. (I just have to walk into the coffee shop, say good morning, and hand over my travel mug; it's a beautiful thing.) Today, I got a large latte. It just felt like that kind of a day.

Something very awesome is happening: it looks like some friends will meet me at the airport in KL! Oh, that doesn't sound Very Awesome to you? Well, these are friends from Winnipeg. My lifelong friend Jenn and her husband have spent the last two years in Sri Lanka, where Jenn has been working as a nurse through a volunteer organization. Now they're on their way home (they've been through India and are in Thailand right now), and it just so happens that we are going to cross paths on August 1 at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. We have plans to meet and spend a few hours at the Bitter Expat Cry-Inyer-Beer Lounge on the third floor. I really hope this works out. We've been away from Canada for about the same period of time, but most of the reason I'm still sane is that I've been making -- and spending -- money (particularly on holidays). Jenn has been volunteering for two years, people. She's had a way harder go of it. I really want to see her (in ten days!). I want to buy that woman a drink.

A comment to my last post warned me not to get my hopes up about knitting all the way back to Vancouver, because of overzealous airline security. But here's the thing: I started knitting in November 2002. Since that time I've flown with a knitting project in my carry-on between Taipei and Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi, and Vancouver, and from Vancouver to Hamilton, Ontario. No problems. I repeat: no problems. (There was that one jealous lady on the cross-Canada flight: "Well, I would've brought my knitting, too, but I thought they'd take it away! So... what are you working on, dear?") I've flown with bamboo dpns, aluminum dpns, and metal circular needles. I did lose a pair of scissors to Hong Kong airport security, but I had stupidly packed them in my carry-on without thinking. Maybe I've been lucky. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if the no-knitting rule is limited to flights that originate or land in the States or the UK. My advice to you if you're going on a long flight is to take your knitting -- on plastic or bamboo needles, if possible. If it is not allowed through security, the airline should be able to put your project in an envelope and check it for you. But if they let it through, wouldn't you feel like a chump if you hadn't tried?