This was a travel day. By air. 20 hours on two flights: Brisbane, Australia, to Hong Kong, China, then to San Francisco CA with a 6-hour layover in Hong Kong. Both flights on Cathay Pacific, an airline that I had never used before. Did I enjoy being on a plane for 20 hours? No. Did we survive and, after 35 days, did we get back into the US? Yes. So call it a success.
But if I have to fly back from Australia ever again I will look for ways to enjoy it more. Maybe a couple of days in Bali or Hawaii?
The flights were fine. Both were on large Boeing 777 craft. I read a bit and both Marlene and I watched several movies. The food on the first flight was horrible; better on the second. The most significant event was the near-loss of Marlene’s passport – she couldn’t find it as we were approaching Hong Kong. But the passenger behind us, seeing the cabin attendants helping us look, noticed it lying under my seat, It must have fallen out of her bag and slid back as we flew. Disaster averted with no damage other than a few missed heartbeats. Getting to China without a passport would have been… interesting.
The Hong Kong airport was a surprise. Very large, Very modern, Very clean. And very western – most signs were in English and the shops were nearly 100% American or European. One entire floor of high-end designer labels such as Breitling and Tiffany. We did a bit of shopping – on the other floor. The one for normal people.
Because the food on the first leg had been awful we decided to have lunch in the terminal before boarding our second flight. Marlene found some good Chinese food. I found some good coffee.
The security was annoying. We went through security in Brisbane, of course, but had to go through security again in Hong Kong to get to the gate for our second flight. And then a third time before boarding the flight (just a passport check, really). I can only assume that different countries had different security protocols and we had to satisfy them all.
The weather in Hong Kong was dreary. Which is too bad as we could see hints that the surrounding landscape was pretty dramatic. But we got only a glimpse of the ragged mountains through the fog.
