Day One: Arrival

Day One

Things to remember, things to forget

Filing under things to forget:

United screwed up our reservations.  I know this is not a complete surprise.  I think we actually expected it.  They had the girls flying round trip and the last name wrong on one of them.  Luckily, we were there early so the 45 minutes that it took to fix the problem didn’t set us back.  This was a good thing because the line through security was really long.  We got through in time to get something to eat and then to be the first to board in our group.

Second thing I would rather forget: old Asian man yelling in Chinese on the airplane.  Even those who spoke Chinese couldn’t really figure out what he wanted.  They offered him another seat but apparently he wanted the exact seat that his travel agent promised him.  Later he started having a fit again.  Pat said he heard that the man thought his hot tea was not hot enough.  I don’t know but it seemed to make the flight staff a bit cranky.  They were not the friendliest group.

Third thing I would rather forget:  man sitting in front of me had his chair reclining for the entire flight.  There is not enough space for this.  His head was in my lap the whole flight.  I took the opportunity to bonk him in the back every time I got my bag.

Fourth thing I would rather forget: the cab ride to the hotel.  The cabbie did not think our hotel was within his area.  After determining that it was, he took us but did not actually know where the hotel was.  He tried to drop us off at another hotel.  He was very apologetic and kept trying to talk to us in English.  I was so thrilled to actually get to the hotel that I almost forgot the bag with all of our adoption paperwork in it!!!!!

So now on to the good stuff. . . .

I saw Gabby Douglas’s (US gold medal gymnast) coaches at the airport.  It was so cool.  I am a huge Olympic fan and this was awesome.

I got to watch “The Avengers,” “Mirror, Mirror” and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” on the airplane.  We don’t have time to watch movies so it was nice to catch up with modern cinema. 

We actually got to Hong Kong and to the hotel.  Hong Kong is beautiful.  It reminds me of Seoul with the mountains and the highrises, and it is very warm and humid.  The hotel is wonderful.  It is comparable to a Hyatt anywhere else.  We ate at the hotel and had a good nights sleep.  We were up pretty early.  We are now watching Germany vs. Brazil in men’s beach volleyball with Chinese commentary.  Last night we watched a little rhythmic gymnastics with no commentary what so ever.

So today we will go to the international business district and see what there is to see.