HK-Day 12-Wednesday
This was a travel day.
HKG -> Chicago -> Atlanta
11:40am -> 4:45pm All times local.
Leaving the Eaton hotel, we planned to take the Airport Express bus and train, but a taxi offered a direct trip for HK$250 – since Jim had lost his Octopus card days ago, he needed to pay HK$100 for the trip anyway. I still had the return trip covered on my card, but quick math had Jim agreeing to the taxi ride as a bargain.
Along the way, we tried to take photos of huge apartments and shipping/container industrial complexes. The photos don’t show how many miles of container complexes there were. I’d guess 15 miles worth. Hong Kong is definitely an import/export hub.
Breakfast is in the airport. I have an omelet and Jim has ramen noodles and some kind of breaded meat.
We each had some HK$ to spend before leaving, so we browse 20+ shops looking for airport junk. Nothing really jumps out, so we dump the remaining local currency on some tissues, cough drops, candy and t-shirts.
The scale of this airport is impressive. Long walk ways with wide spaces.
Since airplane food is always a concern, we grab a quick lunch near our gate. Jim has a wrap and I have a tuna sandwich with just a few minutes before boarding da plane. Since we already went through security, I decide to take my just purchased water bottle with me. As we board the plane, everyone is searched again by Chinese customs – there goes my water. A few minutes later on the plane, the couple next to me pulls out 2 complete Popeye’s Fried Chicken Meals – including bottled water – that they’d purchased in the terminal. I’m less than happy.
Airplane rides, but only 17 hours worth this time. In Chicago, we go through customs – boring. They don’t even look in my stuff. Then we change terminals and get to go through security again. All this with under 45 minutes between landing and take off. Both flights were completely full, but I had an aisle seat for both, so it wasn’t too bad for my leg room. Jim was on the aisle on the long flight, but in the center on the CH->ATL flight. Arg. I can smell myself and I’m certain the people next to me can as well. For the short flight, I’m sitting next to an Army survival school teacher. We discuss a few TV shows and he makes fun of Les the Survivorman guy. He likes Bear – the former SAS guy though.
Anyway, we touch down at 4:45pm but I didn’t get home until after 6pm ET thanks to MARTA and baggage claim. ‘’Showered!’‘, caught up on bills that needed payment, started entering all the trip costs into Quicken, watched a little tube, ate a Schlotzsky’s sandwich and went to bed by 10pm.
[[HK-Post-Trip]]
