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This is my second year visiting California. I upgraded my seat, just for he hell of it, and enjoyed the extra legroom. The first hour of my flight, I listened to my "floaty" playlist, before swapping to the Beoga album I've had on repeat (thank you, Tidal!). My favorite tracks have been Tradfather and their rendition of Old Fashioned Waltz. The later is a cover of Sandy Denny's song off her 1974 album of the same name. It's always around the end of first hour or so of the flight, even if I was perfectly happy looking out the window with my music on, I get bored. 30,00 feet in the air isn't a good place to practice Irish (especially since I don't want to remove my mask while on the plane, even for water), so I turn to writing.

Something I enjoyed before departing from SEA-TAC International was the Interfaith Prayer and Mediation room nearest the A Gate train. It was warm, had comfortable seating, and a beautiful art instillation. I sat for a number of minutes to meditate. I would have preferred a pillow or bolster to sit on the floor, but the bench was nice. What I did find lacking was the literature. Their selection was almost entirely Christian, which for a prayer room I found strange. Though I personally would have found a Buddhist or secular mediation book useful, there were no Qurans despite the prayer rugs available. It was still a nice place to sit away from the noise of the airport.

Comparatively, I liked the adjacent sensory room less. It was locked (you had to call a number for the code, which a friend I'm traveling with did while I was in meditation). If we had not been in there alone I would have been incredibly uncomfortable in the cramped space. It was not wheelchair accessible, which while not a problem for me could be for other travelers. I am glad the room is there for those who benefit from it, but it was not compatible with my personal sensory needs or disabilities. Good thing I had my wraparound shades and Loop earplugs on hand!

Flying is difficult for me. It's more in my budget than driving to Southern CA, I don't like the noise or being in such close proximity to other people. I'm lucky this time with a middle seat between me and the person in the aisle. Really, by now I'm buying time. I've never had success reading on flights or doing much productive. Maybe I'll try one of my two books on the flight home, if I've not finished them by the time I leave.

I've been thinking recently on novelty and time. How i spend it, that is, and what I do to keep things exciting. This trip, I hope, will be plenty novel. I'll be staying in a new city, maybe two, and seeing new sites. I have a couple restaurants on my to-try list, and a few I plan to avoid this time around.

Out my window: the Pacific Ocean comes into view at last! Brilliant white in the late afternoon sun, it stretches up into the blooming marine layer towards the still-blue horizon. Far below, the ground has been slowly drying out as we reach the outskirts of the drier climates. Maybe next year I'll go and see the desert, but that's not what this trip is for. This year is all about costal cities and braving new sites. I might brave the local nightlife, I might not. Or maybe I'll stay on a better beaten path for myself while still trying new things. There are hikes and shopping and Iyengar classes to try, after all.

Scenery changes fast so high up. It's not a bad thing, but it gives me a certain type of problem I struggle to solve: a hundred things I'd like to see but can't name. What's that mountain out that way? What about that river or those sand dunes? I don't know. Much anything south of the Columbia I can't make heads or tails of from the air. I'll learn eventually.

Time seems to go by just as fast when I get my mind on writing! Just as I was settling into the groove, the PA came on announcing we were landing. The decent was smooth (and 20 minutes early!) and the hazy evening air of Southern California settled around me like a warm blanket. The ride to my friend's house was pleasant with a friendly driver (an ex-trucker) who gave some recommendations of things to do. I'm finishing this post up a day later so I can jump right into the next one. Next up: Santa Barbara.

It's official: if you're reading this post, I've finally gotten a blog up and running. I have some mixed feelings about it. Starting a blog is something I've wanted to do for quite some time now. I've been on Tumblr for more of my life than not (weird to think about), but microblogging is a different beast from sitting down to write dedicated entries.

That said, I have a certain amount of anxiety as well. I sometimes struggle to build executive functioning skills and dictate my thoughts with autism and ADHD. Writing (even coding) can be difficult with dyslexia. To manage this, I've decided I will not dedicate myself to writing a post every week or every month, or try to force myself to write when I have nothing to say. Instead, I will write when I have an experience worth sharing.

Because this is meant to be a travel blog, my "goal" (and I am using that term loosely. It is more like a suggestion to myself) is to write when I go somewhere new. This is very exciting to me, as I have a trip coming up very soon and have already begun packing. More on that in a following post.

Assuming you've gotten this far, you may be wondering if there is more you can expect than occasional blog posts. The short answer is yes. I plan to add more pages to my site about different interests of mine. Over the next few weeks, expect to see pages about myself, music, tea lattes, and my various destinations. I don't have a timeline for these things. They will come when I'm ready to implement them. It's rare that I every feel "finished" with a coding project. I may stop working on it for a time, but I like to tweak things.

I'm not sure how long my blog posts will be. They might cap at the roughly 350 words I'm at now, or they might be much longer. I'm very excited to be starting this new season of my life and I hope that you are excited to accompany me.

Signing off for now~

Irish sentence: Is maith liom a baith ag scríobh. / I like to write.