I'm taking a plane... I'm sorry.

I feel like I have failed one of the goals of this trip. It was so important to me to stay along the ground so that I could really feel the distance and the size of the Earth. Hopefully this will be the only plane I have to take. Maybe the 20 hours on the plane will be enough to make me feel far away. Oh, and skipping over land with a plane would be very bad form, so I guess I have to go to Hawaii. Poor me. My phone will work until the 28th, after that it will be suspended. So if you want to hear my sweet voice one more time, do it before then.

There were three different ways I could have crossed the Pacific without using a plane. I explored each one extensively and annoyed many harbor masters and travel agents in the process.

Sailing. This would have the most idea way to get across. Yacht owners are always looking for people to crew their boat. If you are in the right place at the right time, show that you are seaworthy and have a good attitude you can get on without any experience. Sometimes they ask you to pay for your own provisions and port fees. I was not in the right place at the right time. The trade winds were going in the wrong direction and most of the boats I found were headed to Mexico. If I were here in December, I would have had much better luck. I have actually gotten offers to crew in the past when I was still in school through a website.

Cruise Ships. They wanted me to sign on for six months minimum. No can do.

Cargo Ships. Most cargo ships have passenger cabins. It takes about amonth to to book one because of all of the paper work. They also charge you by the day, about $85-115 per day. I takes 22 days to get from Seatle to China. You can do the math. The biggest problem is a law called the Jones Act that prevents passengers from taking a cargo ship from on US port to another US port.