DAY 1 & 2 – August 9 & 10, 2008
Day 1 and Day 2??? - I’ve never been good at the time change stuff, that’s one of the reasons I married Scott! Overall we figure we traveled for 24 hours, with many snacks, meals and naps mixed in. A happy B'day to Deanna & Lazlo - The girls loved that we got to experience your b'day before you since it was already Sunday when we landed.
Thank goodness we have a friend that’s a morning person – Gretchen got us to the airport at 6am! Scott and I didn’t sleep the night before as packing fell to the waste side as we proceeded to watch Opening Ceremonies. Scott says it’s the best he’s ever seen! Sydney loved the entire show and was quick to point out she never saw anyone with blonde hair performing, not once!
6 a.m. at San Diego Airport blurry-eyed and ready for our adventure!
8:30p.m. Hong Kong time - 24 hours of travel and still smiling!
I can now say the girls did amazing on the 14 hour flight. Thankfully Kung Fu Panda & Nim’s Island was on the big screen and the girls also did sleep quite a bit which meat Mom & Dad got to sleep too! Their back packs proved to get heavy for them sometimes so we did carry for them from time to time but never once did they complain about the walking or pulling their own suitcases.
A big backpack for a little girl!
Adapting to travel....
Our arrival in Hong Kong was stress free. We cleared customs, got our luggage right away, exchanged money so we’d have some “Hong Kong Dollar”, bought tickets for the fast train that took us to Kowloon where our hotel is (just across from Hong Kong Island) and found our way to the free bus that took us to our hotel – Holiday Inn Golden Mile. So far we're 1 for 1 with hotels! Nice job Scott!
Show Syd the Hong Kong dollar "HK$"
It’s just after 11pm and we’re going to try and sleep. The girls just had instant Mac & Cheese I packed from home (Scott had leftovers) and I had tuna and crackers. Sure glad I packed those things since trying to find a restaurant we’d all be happy with at this hour could have proved disastrous!
- We’ve decided to keep track of how many Starbucks we see on the trip. Today’s count – 5
- Our goal is to find something in ASIA that say’s “Made in the USA”.
- There are 7-Elevens are all over – the girls can’t wait to see if they have Slurpees here too!
“Finding our luggage right away when we landed in Hong Kong”- Sydney
“Watching movies on the airplane, especially on Daddy’s iPod” – Shelby
“I only know that we’re going to stay here for 2 days but we’ll go to a lot of other places so that’s why we have such a short time at this hotel.
-Cars are driven from the right side here. It was so cute to see the kid’s expressions when they realized this!
-When in the long line to clear customs, there was a family with young twins. When the kids began to get fussy, they were promptly escorted to the front of the line. Neither of our girls was willing to mock a tantrum so we waited patiently, but it sure was interesting to see order kept that way right in front of us.
Why is he driving on the "wrong" side?
OLYMPIC UPDATE (a.k.a. Scott’s Corner): Say it isn’t so!? With the invention of the Internet and real-time news, breaking news is instantaneous. Prior to boarding our flight, my Dad saw a news break that stated a family member of a coach of the USA Volleyball team had been killed by a Chinese citizen. The report linked it to the head coach Hugh McCutcheon and an in law, which meant Wiz Bachman, who married head coach Hugh last year. I had the honor to work with Wiz as an athlete representative for USA VB. Needless to say I had a pit in my stomach the whole flight over. Unfortunately, the news was confirmed on arrival in Hong Kong. Wiz’s parents were the tragic victims in the attack at the Chinese Drum Tower monument.
Our heart goes out to Wiz, as she is truly one of the nicest, outgoing, and friendliest persons I have met in my life. She is always very positive. Clearly this is difficult and a shock to Americans, Olympians, USA VB, and everyone in the volleyball community. Our thoughts are with Wiz and her entire family.
SEEING THINGS DIFFERENTLY
SYDNEY & SHELBY’S DAILY FAVORITES:
FUNNY FORTUNE STUFF
DAY'S HIGHLIGHTS: The girls eating cup of noodles with chop sticks on the airplane and liking it.
Maybe there’s hope for more than a rice diet while we are away!
HURRY UP & WAIT…was the first leg of the trip. We had a 5 ½ hours layover in Los Angeles before the flight to Hong Kong. We survived with breakfast at McDonald’s, watching some creation of pulleys, balls and gears for quite a while and LOTS of walking with a bit of bribery thrown in. The girls were very receptive to each getting $5 for walking the entire LAX airport. Lunch at CPK and then time to board our flight. Hong Kong here we come!
The first of many "pat downs" for Scott. Still no female assists...
-There were seatbelts in the bus that took from the airport to the hotel.
1 comment:
Hey Fortunes. Sorry we did not get to return the email to wish you well on your adventure to China! Glad to know you got there in one piece. How are those legs doing? We watched men's beach volleyball and looked for you. Figured you had to be there somewhere. It was pouring rain so all we saw were people in yellow raincoats. Love the blogs! Keep em coming. All is well in SD!! XOXO, Fino Drive Gals
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