It Feels So Good to Be Out of an Airplane

Hi, everybody!

It takes a really, really long time to get to Asia. At least the way we did it. Nearly 30 hours door to door. But we're here!

The first indication that the trip might prove difficult was during our check-in at BWI. The ticket agent looked at our itinerary, scowled and told us we had an "illegal connection" from LA to Japan. She could override the system and allow us to go through, but she couldn't guarantee that we would make the flight out of LA. And she certainly couldn't promise that our bags would make it to Hong Kong. We were SO happy to know there would be an adventure waiting for us in LA.

The flight was fine. We were expecting to land about an hour and fifteen minutes before our flight to Japan departed. Which would have been cutting it close, but we had prepared ourselves for the possibility after our discussing with Grouchy Ticket Agent. Well, the plane ran behind schedule and we were circling LAX 50 minutes before our connecting flight was supposed to take off. Once that sucker pulled in to the gate, we took off. If you've never done it before, you should really try sitting still on a plane for 5 hours, then immediately switch to running at top speed with 50 pounds of various carry-on baggage, two untied shoes and a boss who's yelling at you because you run like a girl. Ok, well, actually Peter didn't see me running, but he would have yelled at me if he had. It was pathetic.

We did make the connection, thanks to the kind people at Japan Airlines. We made such good time that we were the first people to board the plane. Once we were settled in our seats, some other kind people from Japan Airlines started feeding us and pouring us drinks. I love Japan Airlines. The food was outstanding (Western and Japanese), the selection of wine was impressive and the service was better than any I've ever experienced on an airplane. We had our own little TVs and a selection of movies to watch and music to listen to. And they have shopping! You can order an Hermes scarf or a Cartier ring and they will bring it to you RIGHT THERE. I didn't buy anything, but it was nice to know I had the option.

After an 11+ hour flight, we had another close call at the airport in Tokyo. But we made it, thanks to a bit of American pushiness and a special line for business class travelers. This was the most challenging part of the trip, as our body clocks were really screwed up and we were absolutely sick of being cooped up on an airplane. And the only available movie on the flight was Taxi, with Jimmy Fallon and Queen Latifah. Not a good movie to begin with, but even worse the second time around, immediately after we had watched it for the first time on the aforementioned 11+ hour flight.

All of the running and stressing and heavy bags and dumb movies were worth it when we arrived in Hong Kong. We were greeted by a Rolls Royce from our hotel, and whisked through the city. It was so nice to be on the ground with an end in sight that we didn't even care too much that our luggage didn't make it.

There was a team of people to welcome us when we arrived at the Island Shangri-La. Everyone was very helpful and happy to be greeting two tired and grouchy Americans at 1:00 in the morning. Everyone has been so cheerful and accomodating on this trip -- Americans could definitely learn a thing or two from our Asian friends about good customer service.

So, I'm here in Hong Kong. It's 5:30 a.m. and I'm pretty much done with sleeping for now. We have a few meetings today, and I'm really excited to get out and see the city.

I hope this entry is at least partially coherent. Thank you for reading it, and hopefully there are a lot more to come!

Lori