Twenty eight hours. It was twenty eight hours from the time we woke up in Houston to head to the airport until we finally entered our hotel room in Hong Kong. We left Texas on April 10th and arrived at the Hong Kong airport late night on April 11th. By the time we got to our hotel room, we were less than an hour shy of it being April 12th.
To say my family was tired is an understatement. We tried to get short naps on the plane, but we didn’t want to oversleep and not be tired when we got to Hong Kong at 10PM. By we, I mean mean Monica and Christian. I grabbed a few minutes of rest during our lengthy layover in Tokyo and that was about it. Christian and Monica can sleep anywhere…and they did.
Our flight from Houston to Tokyo was a bumpy one. Lots of turbulence. I thought a Boeing 777 would be smoother, but I was wrong. It wasn’t horrible by any stretch unless you take into account that United Airlines has yet to add WiFi to these flights. If you know me, you realize that was like me going without oxygen. We did have a few meals and lots of free, current movies to watch on the flight, so that helped pass the time. But no WiFi? Really?
The flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong wasn’t bad at all. They didn’t have movies for us, but they did have a camera built into the nose of the plane that you could watch on the TV screen in the seat back in front of you. Sadly, it was pitch black outside, so we only got to see the approaching runway lights as we landed in HK.
Matthew from CCAI met us at the baggage claim and loaded us on the shuttle with our driver Jeff. Jeff did a great job getting us safely to the Hyatt Regency Sha Tin. Once at the Hyatt, Joey (another CCAI staff member) met us and got us checked in. I have to say, CCAI has the best staff, and they are so dedicated to making sure we are comfortable and taken care of.
It would be a disservice for me to not mention that the Hyatt Regency Sha Tin is a fabulous hotel. The breakfast was unbelievable. It was so good that Christian was wanting to get a selfie with the pancake chef. He spent two hours eating breakfast this first morning alone.
We seemed to have adjusted pretty well to the time shift, but we will know more later today. I have a feeling we will hit a wall later tonight. We have a tour lined up later today for the family. It’ll be interesting to explore this new culture. It will be nice to do it as a family. We will also meet up with the Lucky family on this tour. They are another family here to adopt from the CCAI family. It’ll be nice to share experiences with them.
Photo Credit: Swaminathan via Compfight