Kelly put her head on my shoulder and hugged my arm before saying "You sound like you had a lot of fun traveling around."

"I did. Made a lot of mistakes, got confused a lot, was *constantly* lost, but sure, I had a blast. Anyplace I went the first things I tried to learn was some key phrases in the local language."

"Such as?"

"Such as 'Hello', 'Thank you', and most important 'where's the bathroom?'" – earning myself a giggle. I continued by telling her "Actually, I did have a lot of fun. Met a lot of nice people, and visited a lot of pretty and interesting places. Learned a lot, both about the countries and the people in them – how their cultures worked, how they evolved, stuff like that."

"Ever get into trouble?"

"Never anything serious enough to get arrested for."

She tilted her head back to give me the fisheye; I was saved from having to explain myself right then and there by the reappearance of Mhay, who let us know that they would be serving lunch soon, and asking what we'd like, after detailing our choices. Kelly simply looked at me, waiting for me to decide for both of us: we'd been given a choice between braised beef and a Filipino dish, chicken adobo. It took me only a moment to decide – we'd go with the chicken adobo. After Mhay left, I described what the meal would be to Kelly: essentially, a chicken 'stew' with plenty of vegetables, served over rice. Several minutes later, Mhay returned with out meals. After taking a tentative bite, Kelly's face lit up as she told us "This is good!" – and getting a smile from Mhay before she left to take care of her other passengers.

Shortly after Kelly and I had both removed the last molecule of the adobo from our plates, Mhay turned up again to take them back to the galley. With our trays cleared, she came back again to ask if there was anything else we'd like.