We had a 2 hour layover in Chicago, which we spend walking around O’Hare Airport, since we’d be sitting for 15+ hours on the plane to Hong Kong. The plane ride to HK was blessedly uneventful, except for the passengers in the rows in front of us who had to move to balance the weight of the plane. Two of the passengers got irate, and I could only think, “But we gotta balance the weight so WE DON’T CRASH.”
Our flight took us far north, above Alaska and over Russia. Larry had a window seat, and for hours all he saw below was ice and snow. The monitors would occasionally show our progress, speed and other information. The outside air temperature was -76F.
Finally, after two lunches and a snack provided by United, and ham sandwiches that we were so glad we had packed, and four movies we couldn’t hear because the plane’s audio system wasn’t working, our pilot said, “We’ll be landing in 50 minutes”. I checked my watch. Sixty minutes went by and we were still in the air, and not making the final approach. I must have been really ready to get off that plane, because I found myself getting rather irate. At an hour and ten minutes, we landed.
This hike to the luggage pick up area seemed to be about a mile from the gate where we disembarked the plane. Maybe they do that on purpose. People really need to walk after a 15 hour flight.
We got our luggage. I decided we should ask a customs agent about the beef jerky we’d brought with, since the signs around the luggage carrel said that meat was a restricted item to bring into Honk Kong. We found the friendliest customs agent I’ve ever met, who told us it was fine to bring smoked meat into Honk Kong.
By this time it was almost 7 p.m. on Monday in Hong Kong. We caught a cab and even though it was getting dark, we could see that Hong Kong is built around the foot of large hills or mountains, with very little except trees on the hills. Our cab cost us $470 Hong Kong dollars, or about $60 U.S. dollars. (We later found out we probably got ripped off.) But he did deliver us to our hotel, the Charterhouse Hotel in downtown Hong Kong. Once in our room on the 20th floor, we sunk into the bed and passed out.
http://www.charterhouse.com
