25 hours of straight travel

We made it…… 25 hours of straight travel, but we made it. Let me offer a quick recap. We had a decent drive to the airport but engaging our driver was interesting. Minh, are wonderful friend and trusting Dillon International, Inc. guide, arranged for a driver to pick us up at 4:00 p.m. in the lobby. We got out the front door and all the Taxi drivers started signaling/waving to us. (Refrain using your sense of hospitality…don’t wave back) The very nice door man was trying to figure out how come we were saying that we were leaving, standing there with all our bags, and yet didn’t want a cab.

We were trying to explain that someone was coming to pick us up, but we did not know who. A man dressed in all black walks up and asks us if we need a ride. We say no and that someone was coming to pick us up. He said he would take us to the airport at no charge. We told him someone from Dillon International arranged a driver for us. He again said he would take us at no charge. The doorman entered the conversation and we figured out that this driver was sent to pick someone up and take them to the airport, but he did not know who, nor did he know how many people he was to pick up. He just knew that the trip to the airport had already been paid and that he was driving a 7 passenger vehicle.

The saving grace was that Minh mentioned that the driver would be in a 7 passenger vehicle…..so we said okay. It was odd not knowing for sure if this was really our driver, or if some wealthy businessman and his family were left standing at the curb. Well, if that was really the case, hopefully they caught a ride with our “real” driver. All we knew for sure, was that some stranger with a 7 passenger vehicle was willing to take us to the airport for free…..so off we went. We did discuss on the ride how it seemed that this driver was taking a much different and off the beaten path to the airport. It turns out he was bypassing rush hour traffic or something and we actually arrived at the airport a little sooner than we expected.

We have decided that we have extreme mixed feelings about the Hong Kong airport. On one hand it is very nice and modern. On the other hand, the security really stinks. In Hong Kong you have to go through security even though you have not left the secure part of the airport. While going through this security screening, (x-ray and metal detector), they did not take our bottled water that we had stocked up before we left the Somerset. (Hanoi didn’t take our water either). Things are going well…..we give our tickets and boarding passes and are heading down the tunnel to get on the plane. We then find more security and they are only searching bags and they are searching every bag by hand. It is here that they take our water and Tricia gets really pissed. She was about to mix up a bottle so Lucy could make it through the pressure changes during take off. The lady behind us had just purchased a bottle of water right outside the boarding gate. She was even more irate then Tricia.

Tricia complained to the flight crew right when she got on the plane and they brought her a BIG bottle of Evian…..ooh fancy! The crew was very nice. We had bulkhead seating so we could have an airplane bassinette. This was nice, but it locks you in your seat so you either have to climb over or under to make it to the bathroom or stretch your legs. The worst part for me was that the bulkhead seats were not as wide as the rest of the plane (smaller by 1.5 to 2 inches.) This is not a problem if you are of Asian descent, but it creates a huge problem if you have a huge bottom. I was literally wedged into the seat. This is extremely bad for a couple of reasons. First, this creates circulation problems in your legs and they are now advertising the importance of keeping the blood flowing so you don’t get clots and keel over! Secondly this wedgie per se was not good because I become claustrophobic if I can’t move freely. Obviously I survived, but my hips are really sore today. Other than having a fat bottom things pertaining to the flight went very smoothly and we finally got to see Spiderman 3.

Things went well at Immigration, but it does take a while when you are bringing in a new permanent resident into the USA. They are very nice, but don’t get impatient with them (they will be finished when they are finished). We were patient but some people were not. Who in their right mind gets impatient with immigration? It’s not smart to get upset with the officer that is processing your new immigrant paperwork…..someone actually kept going up to the officers and asking, “Is it ready yet? Is it ready yet? Is it ready yet?

In LAX you have to physically leave the International portion of the airport and walk outside for about 100 yards to reach the domestic terminal. When we went through security again they found two bottles of water that Hong Kong missed (makes you wonder about the security of flights out of Hong Kong). It was nice to find these bottles of water because they allowed us to keep one unopened bottle to mix baby formula.

Our fights into Dallas and into Tulsa were uneventful, but to keep on par for the course, we arrived in Tulsa about 15 minutes early. Lucy was met at the airport by her brother Cooper, all four of her grandparents and other family and friends including Jynger and Rebecca from Dillon International. Everyone was excited except for Lucy…though she had been awake for the previous 3 hours, she fell asleep just before we landed in Tulsa and was out like a light and missed the homecoming.

This is all for now, but there will be more to come!

Peace, Kirk