If I could title each day today will be titled "Lost In Translation." Yeah I know it's been taken already.
But I have gone these two weeks amazed at how awesome it was to be able to "get by" with limited ability to communicate fully with each other due to language yet still get what we needed. Yes most of it was because they spoke English to some degree but a lot of it was sign language! I'm not sure what I would do without these little hotel cards that state "please take me to xyz hotel". Many Taxi drivers do not speak a lick of English and many of them have a difficult time even understanding sign language.
today started off by heading down to "Excelsior Caffe" to get some coffee. A very large super big coffee! Now keep in mind that everyone working there in the AM must work 7 days a week. It's the same 5 people every day and we always get 1 of 2 register people! We also go there a couple times every morning! They know who we are and that we DO NOT SPEAK JAPANESE!!!! Yet they continue to pretend we do. We also order the exact same thing every morning! Anyhow this morning the register person started asking me questions about something or other. I asked for the grilled Ham and cheese like always and then he pointed to something and said something something something set coffee? Now what I think he was asking is, Do you want to get the set i.e. Ham and cheese, plus coffee because it was cheaper? So I said "Yes!" Long story short I walked out with 3 (short equivalent) cups of coffee. Super small. UHG! This is going to be a long day.
This also reminds me of our dinner last night. We had spoke English upon entering and continued to speak English with sing language. We were seated and our drinks were ordered via JapEnglish. Then our Waitress came to our table and just busted out in this long conversation in Japanese as if we were fluent. I felt bad but I had to interrupt her and inform her that "We do not speak Japanese." She Did not speak English. So we just started pointing at the menu. We did get what we wanted however we found out later that We could no longer order bar drinks as it was closed.
So after downing my shot of coffee I started to pack my clothes. I planned ahead and packed "light". We did laundry in the the hotel room as soon as we got here. we bought laundry soap and washed by hand. I had so much room in my bags when I left home that i'm sure i'll have packed bag's now! I hate packing. It's one of my least favorite things to do. i hate it!!! So i'm working on slowly packing my bags... Although I do only have 3 hours to do so.
We quickly ran out for lunch to Ramen Noodles. Yummy. :) then headed for the Airport. a nice 1 hour ride on the NEX. I quickly checked in and they were able to put me on an earlier flight. This plane had Lay down Business class seats. Very nice. Photo's to come later.
So i'm in Hong Kong Early and sitting in the lounge for four hours. Not sure what i'm going to do besides shower, eat, chat and maybe sleep! :-). I'm NOT looking forward to the 13 hour flight to SFO!
I LOVE Traveling. I just Miss home! But I love traveling. I love expiriencing other cultures.. :)
My Arrival into Hong Kong went without incident. Yay! That is always safe when your flying! I was at Hong Kong for about 5 hours since I arrived on an earlier flight! I arrived from gate 1. Now Hong Kong has 2 Cathay Pacific Lounges. One at Gate 4 and the largest one at gate 62-64. My flight did not have a gate number as of yet. Since I flew out of gate 68 last time I went through HKG, I decided it would probably be best to go to the big Lounge. This is about a 3 mile walk. It takes quite a while to get there! It’s ridiculously long!
I sat at the lounge chatting on the computer with friends while drinking Vodka Cranberry for close to 4 hours. After downing a few I walked to my gate which is Gate 3.
Now when you’re international any flight going to the USA must have an additional bag search. So the gate area is enclosed and there are multiple TSA “Standing guard” on the line. A few more TSA personnel are available at tables to search bags. Two lines are formed to get into the secure area. One for First Class and Business Class and then one for Economy Class. When I arrive the Economy line is forever long. The first class line is non-existent. A quick check of my bag and I’m in “Secure”.
Our flight is quickly loaded. I’m at the nose of the plane in First class, again! There are 9 first class seats and 3 passengers. 2 flight attendants for us. The Captain informs us that we are having our “entertainment system repaired and will be a few minutes delayed.” We are soon prepared to depart. The captain informs us this time that “our flight will take approximately 12.5 hours and that we will be flying over Taiwan and Japan, however there is a Typhoon between Hong Kong and Taiwan so he is going to keep the fasten seatbelt light until past Taiwan.
Well I’m not going to go into all the details of the trip. However will state I had a 5 course dinner, and slept for 5 hours. Now the sleep was horrible and I woke up ever 5 minutes and it was dry, and noisy and just horrible but time flew by and I had 6 hours left of the 12.5 hour flight! So it was snack time right?
I Love Cathay Pacific. I would recommend them hands down every time. I did not fly Economy however all classes were treated very well. First class is definitely my way of flying. I don’t think it could do any other class. I just need to figure out a way of maintaining this type of lifestyle. My mind is always thinking of business opportunities. But I tend to hold myself back. It’s time to just move forward and do something!
Ok i have been sitting at San Fransico Airport since we got in around 11:00PM. it's now 3:00AM. For some reason this has been one of the best times at an airport. I have not clue why. I have been wide awake, due to Jet lag! (I'm NOT looking forward to going to work). and just ate a burger, and a diet coke. However I do want to just get home! Anyhow my trip is almost over and I have traveled close to like 20,000 miles. Completely crazy i tell you! Crazy
