Flight to Hong Kong

Tonight, I arrived in Hong Kong. The first flight, from LAX to Beijing, was over 12 hours long. The second flight, from Beijing to Hong Kong, was about 3 hours. Both were on Air China. On both flights, I made sure to request aisle seats, so I could get up anytime I wanted.

Surprisingly, the long flight didn't have TVs in the headrests. You would think it'd be standard for a 12-hour flight to have TVs in the headrests. As an alternative, there were projection TVs on the front wall, but they were so far away and the quality wasn't good, so I could barely see them. Thus, I spent most of the long flight reading and listening to my iPod. I also caught the second half of the movie, Cowboys vs. Aliens, which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. For some reason, I couldn't sleep very much. Probably because the flight took off at 1:20 pm.


Plane to Beijimg



As with all travel, there are hiccups along the way. About an hour into the first flight, I spilled my entire glass of soda all over myself. I drenched the right arm of my button-down shirt, the right side of my jeans and spilled all over the carpet. The American couple, across the aisle, witnessed my spillage and just stared at ,r. For some reason, this really pissed me off. I guess I was expecting them to help or something. Luckily, I was wearing a white tshirt under my button down so took off the wet one. Then, during mealtime, I dropped food on my white tshirt. I was a slob.  



When I was in the Beijing airport (photo below), I almost boarded a flight to Manila. It wasn't my fault, or I don't think it was. The monitors said my flight was at gate at E57, but it was a flight to Manila instead. I tried to get on, but the attendant just stared at me. Then she sternly corrected my stupidity. Maybe I was just tired and delusional. 



Beijing airport (PEK)



After 15 hours in the air, I arrived in Hong Kong. It was surprisingly easy to get from the airport to downtown Hong Kong. They have a nice express train that goes directly downtown. I ran into a small issue with the MTR (subway). I went past my stop because I received vague directions. When I got off, I had to buy a ticket for a different train line, but the machine wouldn't accept $100 HK bills, which is all I had. It only accepted $5, $10 or $20 bills. Some nice tourists gave me the fare. I felt like a beggar, but I didn't care. With all travels, you're going to feel vulnerable (or stupid) sometimes. 

Now I'm in my tiny hotel room in Hong Kong. I barely know a soul in this big city. It's both exciting and anxiety-inducing. Tomorrow, I move into my apartment. Time for sleep.

Justin