Flight Recap

I think airports have to be one of the most intersting places because you just come across people from all walks of life.

My flight from San Antonio to Hong Kong had some memorable moments as I grew more exhausted and more anxious to reach my destination. From San Antonio to Los Angeles, I was seated next to an older, American man, his very much younger Vietnamese wife, and their two small children. One child was a baby who slept the whole time, the other was just a few years old and tried several times to lay down across the seats, the problem of course being I was in one of those seats, meaning I was kicked several times with no remorse. Also, the man was really chatty. (Sidenote: is it really horrible that I don't want to talk to people on planes? I feel like, as a believer, I should be grateful to have such opportunities to meet people, but honestly I just hope that I don't get seated next to people who want to talk because it makes it harder for me to sleep, or read, or do other things. Also, I just really don't like small talk) So this chatty man wanted to explain all the ways he's such a 'family guy' and how great his kids are (minus the kicking, I assume), and his wife, etc etc, but it was hard to take it all seriously when he and his wife kept arguing about the baby. He just had a bit of a creepy factor to me. No worries - I left them in my dust in L.A.

Now, I am not a fan of the L.A. airport. It's basically it's own city, it's just so massive and confusing. I wandered around a bit until I found the shuttle to the terminal I needed to be at, then me and some Chinese ladies sought out the Air China area (I knew I was getting warmer when I found myself surrounded by Asians). I had to go through security again, and just outside the security check there was a huge group of people singing songs and waving good-bye to an older woman who I can only assume is a dear family member heading off for a long time, or something along those lines. I couldn't quite pinpoint what nationality or race these people were but they seemed to all be together, singing, hugging, and sending off this woman.

Once at my gate for my flight from LA to Beijing, I sat in a chair and started reading a book since I had a couple of hours to kill. And of course, I was eavesdropping on the guy sitting directly behind me because, well, he was directly behind me. He was actually from Dallas, and sounded very nice, and was telling the Chinese-American lady next to him about this trip to Beijing he was taking. He said, "I'm going to meet my girlfriend." Apparently, he met her on the Internet (this guy was in his 40s, I'd say). I had to really hold myself not to turn around and look at him, just out of curiosity. It turned out he was supposed to be on an earlier flight, but couldn't make it so he needed to call this girlfriend to tell her to expect him later than intended, and he was asking this Chinese lady sitting next to him to call her for him. The lady asks why he can't call her, and he tells her she doesn't speak English, and he doesn't speak Chinese. I'm basically just staring blankly at my book by this point, just listening to this conversation. In my head, I'm asking, "How do you talk to each other if you don't speak the same language?" And literally at that moment, the Chinese lady asked him the same thing. He tells her that they just use a translation tool online to translate each other's messages. Whatever floats your boat I guess.

On the plane, the first thing I did was check if there were TVs to watch for the 13 hour flight. The answer, sadly, was no. (Side note: it may not sound like a necessity to have a TV for a flight, but if you can just imagine 13 hours, sitting in the same seat, squished in with other people, and no fresh air, then you can understand the need for some sort of entertainment, and since my ipod was stolen, and I can't read on the plane without feeling sick, I'm pretty much at a loss without a movie to watch). Also, the food was pretty bad and the flight attendants hardly spoke English, making it a bit difficult. And apparently they were trying to freeze us - I was so cold!! I had on a jacket, a scarf, and my big coat, and I was still cold.

Once we got to Beijing around 5 am, the outside temp was a crisp 24 degrees F. It was coooold! To make an international transfer (Hong Kong is international from China), I had to wait for the transfers desk to open, which was about an hour, then I got my boarding pass and on to my plane to Hong Kong.

It was so nice to come into HK, seeing the familiar landscape and skyline and knowing I was finally home. Since I have a Hong Kong ID Card, I get to go through the Residents line at Immigration, as opposed to the Visitors line, so rather than waiting with a 100 people to get processed, I was in a line with one other guy and was immediately checked and sent on my way. It was great!

My bags arrived, mostly in one piece, and I met my friends who picked me up. As soon as I got out of the car where I live, I had people giving me hugs, and when I came up to my apartment I found my lock and doorknob had been fixed and a friend had put bread, bananas, and good ol' Toblerone in my apartment as a welcome.

And now I am greatly looking forward to collapsing on my bed tonight. My bed and I are due for a serious snuggle.