I have to take my pants off to get to my moneybelt. This is the first time I have worn one and when the ticket agent in Memphis asked for my passport, I discovered I had to undo my belt and lower my pants to get to it. I stand close to the counter so she cannot tell and she thinks I am just having trouble finding where I put it. "I put things where I think I can find them easy and then when I look for them I forgot where I put them", she says. I continue to work on my problem. Finally, I get the passport out and give to her. After leaving the counter I go to the bathrooms and adjust the belt on the moneybelt tighter so it holds it around my waiste and keeps it from working down under my belt.

Now I have arrived in Chicago around 4:30 p .m. on Wednesday. The moneybelt is now riding where it needs to be. I just have to unbutton a couple of shirt buttons to get to it. But, at every security point I have to take it off and stuff it in my backpack to go through security. You can't even have a piece of paper or handkerchief on you when you go through the body scanner.

Lesson learned. As soon as I go through security this time, I take almost everything, except camera, out of my cargo pockets and put everything in the backpack. Next time I go through security, all I will have to unload is the camera from my pants and my moleskin notepad from my shirt pocket. Take off the moneybelt, put it in backpack, remove shoes, cap, belt and wristwatch and I am set to go through security. See how simple!

Leaving Chicago security area, I get on a tram that takes me to the international airport.

We board at 9:20 p.m. Wednesday night, and this time my bag is not too big for the plane . It's an AirBus 330. This plane is the way to fly. It's the largest I have flown on. This one has a row on each side of the aircraft that each have two seats. In the middle of these is a row with 4 seats. There are monitors on the back of each seat where each passenger can select from a large selection of movies, music, audios, or watch the map that shows in real time where the plane is flying. This is the way to fly! We are on our way to Jordan.

I am not even out of Chicago yet and I cannot understand the language. The staff speak english but many of the passengers do not. This is a Jordan aircraft and I guess all the staff are Jordanians. At least they look like it and talk like it. Many passengers are watching movies in arabic. I'm not. I get the English language but it still has arabic subtitles.

"The doctor has just been in to see the old lady. The doctor tells her son to try to get her to take a little brandy each day . The son says that will never work. His mother would never touch any alcohol. Then try to slip just a little in her milk each day the doc says. The son adds some brandy to the milk the first day and the old lady drinks some of it. Each day he does the same, adding more brandy each time. She drinks more each day. By the end of the week she drinks the whole glass non-stop. Calling the son in she tells him, 'Son, whatever you do, don't sell that cow'.

That was a scene from the movie I chose to watch. It's the classic "Bonnie and Clyde" movie. It's been so long since I last saw it that it is still fun to watch.

The staff serves us a dinner of chicken. There is a salad, white cake, fruit, and rolls. They come around after the meal with hot tea. Later they bring coffee around. They offer soft drinks later. The time, like the aircraft, is just flying.

I watch "The Lord of the Ring" and then a comedy or two before the night is over. I also enjoy watching the flight route in real time. I can see where the plane is flying at this moment whenever I want to and also it gives out current information I find interesting.

It's 1:43 a.m. Thursday, U.S. time, and I watch the flight map. I have not been able to sleep any at all. We are midway over the Atlantic Ocean. We fly over Montreal, Canada, Ireland, the North Sea, Holland, Germany, Myrna, Greece, then across the Mediterranean Sea into Amman, Jordan. My next connection is here in Jordan. The next flight will take me to Thailand!

We are served a nice breakfast around 8 a.m. Thursday, Chicago time. I do not know what time it is where the plane is right now, though.

Then the plane lands and for the first time on this trip, I walk on foreign land. It is 9:15 a.m. Chicago time on Thursday, Jan 10, But, it is 5:15 p.m. Thursday afternoon in Jordan. Jordan is 8 hours ahead. We woke up and were served breakfast about an hour ago, now we are landing in darkness at 5:15 p.m.

My sense of time is now getting very blurred. It should be morning but it is dark already here. I should be thinking lunch but it is time for dinner. I missed a whole meal. It was not just missing a meal, I missed the entire time period for eating that meal. Danny would not like this.

The flight was about 12 hours long but it is 20 hours later when we land than when we left. We flew at about 39,000 ft most of the time, 613 mph, and as best as I can figure, we flew about 7,000 miles.

As we touch down in Amman, Jordan there is a round of applause. First time I have seen this. I guess it's for a job well done by the pilot or maybe everyone claps for themselves making it alive?