Meeting Maggie - Part 1 - Fort Worth to Hong Kong
Wed., May 19, 1999 - All day people called to wish me well. I finally felt like I was ready to go and felt more peaceful than I had in the days before, when I had been frantically preparing for the trip. Cecilia (my travel companion) and I had a "packing party" on Mon. evening (two days earlier) and fortunately I was able to shift some of my heavier items to her suitcase. She packed lightly, which made up for my "girl scout" approach to packing ("always be prepared"). Somehow I managed to get the majority of the stuff that had been covering my living room floor into those suitcases!
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We arrived at the airport two hours early, then had a bite to eat at a restaurant in the terminal. Cecilia kept trying to coax me to eat. I was so excited and nervous that I had not been eating much for days. I felt a little like I was about to "walk the plank." This might have been exacerbated by the fact that I waited until the last minute to make my will (which I had signed two days earlier). But, perhaps that feeling was not so much questioning whether I would survive the trip, as it was knowing that my life was about to change drastically.
We flew first class on American Airlines, thanks to frequent flyer miles. We traveled separately from our travel group, and one day earlier, because of this. This was my first time in first class. If you have to be stuck on an airplane for that long, it's a good place to be! Cecilia and I had a glass of champagne after take off to celebrate.
We arrived in Los Angeles about three hours later. I thought the Los Angeles airport was kind of confusing. Fortunately, Cecilia had lived in Los Angeles and had traveled internationally many times, so I just followed her around. We checked in with Cathay Pacific for the international portion of our trip. Since we were flying business class, we were able to circumvent the long line. We then looked for a place to change money, so we would have some Hong Kong dollars when we arrived there. We were both a little nervous about getting from the airport to the hotel, since we were traveling without the rest of the group. After that we found the Cathay Pacific lounge and waited for our flight to be called.
We left Los Angeles around midnight. The flight was crowded. We were surprised that we had bulkhead seats. I had to scramble to extract items from my luggage that I would need during the flight before stowing the carry-ons above. I wished I had organized my carry-on better so that I could easily get to the items I would need in flight. As it turned out, Cathay Pacific gave us each a bag with many of the comfort items that I had brought: (water spray, lotion, lip balm, eye mask, ear plugs, hair brush, toothbrush and toothpaste, socks, etc.). One of the only things that I brought that was not duplicated was an inflatable neck pillow, which I was glad to have, especially being in the aisle seat and not having anything to lean my head on. The service on Cathay Pacific was awesome. The flight attendants learned our names and either called me "Ms. Anderson" or simply "madame." We felt really decadent! I enjoyed having a personal TV screen where I could watch our progress over the Pacific Ocean. It also helped me to figure out the time change, as it would list the time in Los Angeles and the time in Hong Kong. I slept for about five hours, and ate, read, watched TV, listened to music or just rested for the remainder of the flight.
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Fri., May 21, 1999 - We arrived in Hong Kong as the sun was rising (5:30 AM). The airport is lovely and brand new. It was not crowded at this early hour. When we were getting our bags, a couple walked by and said "we see you have a stroller and no baby, so you must be doing what we're doing!" They did not stay to talk for long, but we did ascertain that they were with Holt. After that, we had no trouble figuring out how to get to the hotel. Signs were in both English and Chinese, as were announcements over the loud speaker. The woman at the information desk spoke English and explained that we could take the train or the bus. We opted to take the bus, but we had to wait awhile, as the first bus did not leave until after 7:00 AM. The bus ride was interesting... the scenery was pretty and different from what we're used to seeing. It was cloudy and foggy, which made it seem "other-worldly." I felt excited to be so close to my daughter's homeland!
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This seemed like the LONGEST morning of my entire life. I kept checking my watch and was amazed that it wasn't even noon yet! We had a second breakfast after checking into the beautiful Shangri-La hotel. The lounge over looks the harbor which made for good viewing. The breakfast buffet was excellent. Cecilia was eating bagels and lox, fresh fruit, etc. which made me nervous. I didn't realize that I wasn't really in China yet and it was okay to eat these things. (One of our agency directors also told us that food in any 3-star or above restaurant in China should be okay.) The water in Hong Kong is supposedly potable, but I decided it would be good to practice not brushing my teeth using tap water, so that I would be used to it by the time we entered mainland China.
After breakfast we went for a walk along the harbor, which made us feel a little less like zombies. We took showers, napped, and then treated ourselves to luxuries in the health club. I went swimming and had a massage (wonderful!) and Cecilia had a pedicure. That afternoon we had "high tea" in the lounge. Then we went for a long walk to Kowloon park. The streets were very crowded and colorful. Shop owners tried to lure us into their stores as we passed by. Kowloon park includes trees, flowers, a swimming pool, a playground, a sculpture garden, and an aviary. We saw people doing Tai Chi and other exercises. By the time we got back to the hotel, the sun had set and the city lights along the harbor were beautiful!
I was very glad we had arrived a day ahead of the group so that we had a chance to pamper ourselves and recover from the flight and time change. We both woke up around 3:00 AM, read for awhile, and then went back to sleep for awhile longer. This pattern continued for several days. After that, it was Maggie that woke us up in the night!