Made it!!

So I finally made it to Xiamen!!

No issues with my flight from Detroit to Tokyo. Tokyo to Hong Kong was fairly uneventful until the very end. We had to land in a tropical storm. If you can avoid doing so, I highly recommend not flying in strong winds and pouring rain. I didn't actually use my barf bag, but I had a plan already laid out in my mind on how to grab the barf bag from behind the magazines in the seat back pocket, get it open, secure it in my hands (leakage would be bad) and get it covering my mouth in the quickest way possible, just in case. Luckily, we got on the ground before I had to put the plan into action.

I spent the night in the Hong Kong (per my itinerary, not because of the storm). Unfortunately, the trains to the city weren’t running due to flooding, so I was stuck in the airport hotel. I say stuck like it’s a bad thing. Really, it’s one of the nicer hotels that I’ve stayed in. There are 4 restaurants and 2 bars onsite, plus a veritable Mall of America (well, Hong Kong, and there's no roller coaster) in the terminal itself. But, I wasn’t tired and really wanted to check out the city, so stuck is a good descriptor.

Anyway, being stuck I wandered down to the hotel bar looking for entertainment. There I met two DragonAir pilots (old guys from England, not at all like Leo in “Catch Me If You Can”) who were, if nothing else, social and somewhat entertaining. After an uneventful night at the China Bar & Grill, I moseyed on back to my room and slept for a bit before catching my flight to Xiamen.

I got to fly Xiamen Airlines which I hadn’t done before. They actually had an acceptable amount of leg room in coach. Had the flight been more than an hour long, I’d most likely have a different opinion, but my knees weren’t crammed into the seat in front of me, so I was content. The only negative to flying Xiamen Air, the flight attendants that ‘spoke’ English had such a thick accent that I could hardly understand what they were asking me. But, it was an uneventful flight and we landed safely.

At the airport, I had to pick up my massive amounts of checked luggage (ok, it was only 2 suitcases, but that’s 2 more than I’m used to checking) and meet the Best Western people who took me to my apartment. Also, uneventful. (If you’re waiting for the punch line, you may want to check back later. There isn’t one yet.)

I got all checked in to my new home and then crashed until Friday. Who knew that 19 hours on a plane and 1 night at a hotel bar could really wear you out! But, it’s true.

And now, here I am. Hanging out in China. Land of the really short people… I’m not making fun of them, it’s true. On the escalator up to baggage claim, there was a lady two stairs in front me. I was still taller…