Up and Over the Globe to Hong Kong

We might have gotten carried away enjoying a pre-flight glass (or two) of wine because all of the sudden we heard, "Final boarding call for Flight 179 to Hong Kong" and we weren't on the plane... Yikes!!!  There went that nice little buzz I'd been working on for the last hour and a half as we ran frantically through the terminal to our gate, but at least we didn't have to deal with being part of the herd anxiously awaiting to board the plane.  We lucked out with an upgrade to economy plus and a row all to ourselves, giving us extra room for the 16-hour trek ahead. Then the doors closed, we pushed back from the gate and off we went!  

After reading five chapters of my book, watching two feature length movies and then an episode of Friends, I realized we still had 10 more hours in the air.  Man, talk about time standing still.  We took little naps here and there but didn't want to sleep for an extended period of time knowing we were landing Thursday at 7pm Hong Kong time, so we wanted to be able to sleep Thursday night and get on schedule for the rest of our trip.  Not to worry... neither one of us could get comfortable and were exhausted by the time we landed. We flew right over the North Pole, so I said hi to Santa and kept my eyes peeled for Rudolph :)

As we approached Hong Kong the pilot told us we couldn't land due to heavy airport traffic, so we had to circle for about 30 minutes.   That just seems cruel to do to a plane that's already been in the air for 16 hours, right??  But to be honest, I didn't find the flight all that bad... If you're mentally prepared for it, that's half the battle.  

We made our way from the airport to our hotel on Hong Kong island with no problems.  Hong Kong seems like it will be easy to navigate as everything seems to be written in both symbols and in English.  Our hotel is beautiful and we scored a top floor corner suite with a great view of the surrounding skyscrapers. We decided to go out to the pool deck and relax in the hot tub for a bit.  Can't wait to get out and explore this city, but a much needed good night's sleep is first on the list.