John Gunter

Thoughts on Life and Living

10 tips for surviving LONG flights. . . YOUR input desired!

by

As I stated in my last post, I have spent a significant part of my life on LONG, international flights (please CLICK HERE if you have not read it. . . definitely read the comments by Scott Stephenson and Tim Waddell at the end).  These flights tend to be physically demanding and life shortening, but at least we have them as opposed to boats as they had in the old days.

Flight to Asia in 1999
This was taken by a friend on one of my first flights to Asia. . . I’m busy at work.

Additionally, many of my friends will be traveling from America to Asia in the coming weeks, so I hope this will be helpful.

I’m sure one day we will find an alternative means of long-distance travel, but for now we are stuck with massive, over-crowed planes.  Until an alternative to plane travel is created. . .

Here are 10 of my suggestions for surviving LONG, international flights.  I’ll start off with a tip based on the end of my previous post.

  1. Wear shoes that can easily slip on and off – See my previous post for the reason why.  This is essential.  On a related note, ALWAYS WEAR SHOES TO THE BATHROOM!  If you have not, you really need to read this post. . . 
  2. Drink water often – I try to get up and ask the flight attendants for water every 1-2 hours.  You get massively dehydrated on flights of 8+ hours, even when you don’t realize it.  This will lead to [Read more…]

The 5 types of people you see on LONG airplane flights

by

As I type this, I am on yet another LONG flight.  This one is trans-Pacific.  By my count (you do things like count flights when bored on a LONG flight), this flight will be the 55th time I have flown over the Pacific Ocean.  Add to this the 20 times I have flown over the Atlantic Ocean (not to mention flight from Asia to Europe), and long flights are one of the few things I can truly say I know well.

In honor of my vagabond lifestyle that I have lived for much of my adult life, I am going to do a LONG flight blog or two.  This first one will be on the characters that I often see on these flights.

Here are some classic “I can’t stay awake” guys on my flight.
You see, there really are a few characteristics and/or characters that you seem to always fly with on these flights.  Let’s take a look at a few of them.

  1. The “I can’t stay awake” guy – This guy gets on board, settles his bags, fastens his seat belt, and IMMEDIATELY starts the involuntary forward head bob.  He can’t wait until the flight gets up in the air in order to push his seat back, so he risks serious back injury by simply leaning forward the entire time.  The seatbelt keeps him still, yet is also the reason way he won’t be able to walk when we stands up for the first time in a few hours.  I envy these guys, I really do.  I have trouble sleeping in sterile, comfortable settings, yet [Read more…]

First Impressions. . . Asian hospitality

by

(This post is part of a series I am doing called “First Impressions. . . my first few months in Asia“. If you would like to read about this series and other articles, please CLICK HERE.)

Chinese meal
Though not from that day, this is a typical local meal.

Coming from the south in America, hospitality is something that is valued to me. This isn’t just a saying, but a reality. My mother is one of, if not the best, hostess that I have ever known. She loves having people over. Some of my fondest memories as a child are of our house being packed with guests, laughter, tons of food, and Mom & Dad providing a wonderful environment.

One of the many things that I have loved about Asian culture is their value of hospitality. They are wonderful at it and place massive amounts of effort into hosting guests. Additionally, it is literally a Confusion teaching to honor and take tremendous care of foreigners in their land. The result is that these people have, by in large, gone out of their way to be good hosts me in every conceivable way during my time here. It’s been wonderful.

Though I have been in the homes of many of my Asian friends over the years, the following story is of the first time. Nothing dramatic during this day, it was just my first such experience so I went to greater detail in chronicling it. Many others have followed in a similar fashion. . .

I had met the managers of the local weight room on my second day in county. They were nice guys. Their English was limited to a handful of “weight room words” and my Chinese was non-existent at the time.

[Read more…]

9 things I have learned from Mom & Dad’s 50 years of marriage

by

(This post is from my series, “My thoughts on weddings. . . (a series)“.  If you would like to read more of the articles, please CLICK HERE.

Mom Dad Wedding edited
June 24, 1962. . . Mom and Dad

July was the month of celebrating 50 years of marriage for my parents (click here to read about their wedding).  I was thrilled to be able to be in America to celebrate with them.  This anniversary was one of my primary motivations in doing this series on weddings.

In this post, I will simply write about a few things I have learned through observation from my parents’ marriage of 50 years. There are way more than nine things I have learned from watching my parent’s marriage over the years.  However, as I sit down to write about it, here are the first nine which come to mind. . .

9 things I have learned from watching my parent’s 50 year marriage:

  • Laughter is important – If you have never been around my parents together, that really is too bad.  They are fun.  They laugh.  Especially Mom.  She laughs often, freely, and with great volume (CLICK HERE to learn more about Mom and her laugh).  Mom genuinely thinks Dad is the funniest man in the world.  Seriously.  He is really funny.  Other people also laugh at my Dad’s humor, but nothing approaching the level or decibel of my Mom.  With them, I have seen laughter as vital.  Life can be hard.  Laughter is important, if not necessary.  If I ever meet a woman who thinks I am half as funny as Mom thinks Dad is, I will marry her then and there.  Well, maybe not that dramatically, but you get my point.
  • Children are a privilege and stewardship – Mom and Dad prioritized their kids above all things.  Mom quit work and poured her energy into us.  Dad halted all personal hobbies and activities while we were still in their home.  Once I went to college, the [Read more…]

First Impressions. . . Traditional Chinese Medicine

by

(This post is part of a series I am doing called “First Impressions. . . my first few months in Asia“.  If you would like to read about this series and other articles, please CLICK HERE.)9traditional-chinese-Medicine

One of the job hazards of living and working in Asia (for a foreigner) is sickness.  Food, preparation and many other things make maintaining health a constant issue.  As I often say, I really only have two states of heath here. . . I have a stomach virus or I am about to get a stomach virus.  It has gotten much better over the years.  I think this is both because standards of cleanliness have increased and my body is more acclimated.

However, my first few years were rough.  This is about my first sickness and visit to a local Chinese medicine doctor.

People refered to it simply as “the East Asian Wall”.  It seemed as if it happened to everyone that arrived in East Asia from America.  It was as if after 1-2 months of living here, your body would just hit a wall and completely shut down.  Body to self, “wait one minute. . . what is going on here?!?!?”  The food is different, [Read more…]

Subscribe to Blog by Email

Follow Me