Entry and Arrival

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Entry 1: Entry and Arrival



Due to popular demand from my glorious raving fans, I have started this blog to keep everyone up to speed on my adventures.



I left for Boston at 1:30 on Sunday for a flight that would leave at 6:45. At the airport, I was really nervous; everything had felt so distant for so long but here reality was sinking in right before I had to go through security.



My mum and a good friend, Chris, brought me. While Chris nursed an enviable drink at The Legal Bar, Mum walked me to security and we said our good-byes... and I was a mess, a big embarrassing mess! I was scared and had been so close to my mum and now I had to leave. That feeling makes my eyes well up just thinking about it (maybe I’m still a little jet-lagged).



I stood in line for security and gathered my composure. As soon as I did, I turned around and there was my mum, waving at me! Oh joy. I tried not to lose it again!



Once I was through security (which was the smoothest EVER... except the shoe removal thing, which you didn’t have to do in Paris) and on my way to my gate, I felt calmer in a resigned sort of way. My goal was to sleep on the overnight flight to Paris, stay awake for the 11-hour layover, read or something on the flight to Helsinki, and then sleep and read on the last flight to Hong Kong.



If only it worked out that smoothly.



On the flight to Paris, I had a hard time sleeping. Apparently I couldn’t sleep with earplugs in on the airplane. Eventually I dozed off without an eye mask or earplugs, surprise! But we also had really bad turbulence, which seemed pretty unusual as we were crossing over water. Not the swooping kind of turbulence that’s kind of fun, but a jarring and battering kind. Those adjectives make it sound really violent, but no, it wasn’t like the plane was flipping over or anything. It was just pretty bad turbulence.



Arriving in Paris at 7:30AM, I was so early that the departures didn’t have any information on where my next flight (for 8PM or something) would be. As soon as I arrived I also realized my French was not as good as it used to be. I could understand it... if everyone there spoke as slow as snails (if snails could talk). But even their English was so fast and so thickly accented that oftentimes I would end up doing the nod-and-smile routine. So embarrassing.



The first person I asked was a transfer assistant just outside the arrival gate of my first flight. She said that flights to Helsinki left from terminal 2D. That would be an important clue in my search for the correct terminal and gate, no matter what directions I was given by other employees there. She sent me off, and I began my trek.



The Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris is 1.) HUGE and 2.) currently under renovations. Ergo, my task ahead was quite a challenge.



I eventually got to 2D, which felt pretty far from the central area where I think I landed. It was two moving walkways, two bums picking through trash, and some shopping areas away. Somehow I didn’t go through the entry visa process, so my passport was never stamped as arriving in France. When an Information employee gave me directions as to where my gate was (though there may have been some translation issues in our conversation), I was pleased to find myself on my way to a passport booth and security for a set of gates. I thought, once I’m in there, I’ll be able to find which gate is mine.



Well! I got my passport stamped (CRUCIAL PLOT POINT) and headed down to security. Once there, the scanners wouldn’t read my boarding pass. The woman working security took a look at my pass and realized I was not in the right place (I have no idea where I was that was incorrect in the first place). She called some overseer over and he brought me back through the passport check, told off the young woman who’d stamped my passport, and brought me back to the main check-in area of 2D (where Information was).



So I was resigned to wait several hours until my flight information would show up on the display screens. I got some Euros, bought a water and an orange juice, and settled down with Max Valerio’s The Testosterone Files. I read a lot, then went to the bathroom, then read some more, then took a nap draped over my backpack, woke up, and went to find food. It’s really lonely traveling alone.



I found this place in terminal 2D called The Hippopotamus. It was rather expensive, but I had enough Euros to cover a meal, and I was starving. So I ordered a Caesar salad and a fruit salad.



Although the ingredients were very fresh, the Caesar salad should’ve been renamed Horseradish salad! That was too bad. And the bread that came with it was sourdough-based, not the traditional delicious French bread. The fruit salad was pretty good though, and then I was on my way.



I went to the bathroom one more time, and by then the departures boards had my flight information -- but only for check in. So I checked in at 2D section C and went through security. Section C brought me to a range of gates, one of which would have my flight.



At the gates, there are a million duty-free shops and deli stands. So I could’ve gotten a delicious-looking grinder for a fraction of the cost of my meal at Hippopotamus. Ah well. Though a grinder would’ve been a better move, my flight information hadn’t been posted yet and I ended up having a very nice waitress. I filled up quickly, though; pretty sure my stomach had shrunk (and it would continue to do so over the next two flights).



So I was finally in the right place for my flight. I continued reading, used the computer a little bit (the free wifi wasn’t great, but I could check my messages every once in a while). I got an iced tea from a vending machine. Used the bathroom. Did everything slowly, since I had time to burn!



Finally, my flight’s gate number was posted and I could sit to wait for boarding. At last I was on my way to Helsinki.



The flight to Helsinki was uneventful; I actually slept for about half of it.



At Helsinki, I wish I was there for a much longer layover -- the airport is GORGEOUS! I studied the map of the terminal provided on my flight, so I knew where to go. But regardless of the map ahead of time, everything was very clearly laid out and also very clean.



Immigration was the only hold up; I was leaving the Schengen zone from Helsinki, but apparently the stamp I had gotten in my passport in France said I’d left then. So I had an exit stamp from the Schengen zone, but no entry stamp. The young man working at immigration was surprised because of course they would only do that for French passports, but he’d seen some American passports with the same issue. So I showed him my boarding pass and everything was cool! I was on my way.



My layover in Helsinki was only 40 minutes, but it ended up being a little longer because boarding didn’t start until a little bit later. This jet was huge. Fortunately, the seating was 2-5-2 so I had an aisle seat, and I was in the second to last row, right by the bathrooms (awesome -- a good reason to get up and stretch my legs).



I sat next to a young woman, probably about my age, from Hong Kong. We didn’t talk much until later in the flight. I finished my book, had a delicious dinner with a glass of white wine (best meal I had on a plane -- spinach risotto... sooooo gooood), watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother (thanks for the recommendations, Elizabeth and Shawn), and then fell asleep somewhere over Latvia, Estonia, or Russia.



I slept really well on that flight. Once they shut off the lights, I put on my eye mask, and I was OUT. Again, no earplugs. When I woke up an hour and a half outside of Hong Kong, I bought a duty-free present for Elizabeth (not naming it here in case she reads this) for her return in a month. I chatted with the girl next to me and she gave me her window seat for landing so I could take pictures. I made a friend!



So of course, the exciting part: seeing Hong Kong for the first time. It’s hard to comprehend the size of it from above, because of course everything looks smaller. But the mountains are huge. And once we landed, everything was massive.



There weren’t a lot of people at the airport, however; in Paris there had been many, many more. And weighed down by my backpack, I didn’t feel like I stuck out like a walking giant among the native Hong Kong people. The girl from the airplane walked me to the passport check -- several moving walkways away, but all the signage was very clear and easy to understand. We parted at the passport check and I got to baggage pick up just fine, pleasantly surprised to spot my luggage almost immediately.



I went through customs to the exit smoothly, and was met with a terminal about almost as busy as Paris. I looked for Daisy, my in-laws’ helper, who was supposed to pick me up. There was this older Asian woman who was smiling and waving at me. That was her! I totally did not recognize her from Skype!



We got some Hong Kong currency from an ATM so I could get a card for the bus. Then of course we got the card and were on our way outside. Which was hot and humid like New Hampshire at the height of August, but even more humid. I noticed the air conditioning on the bus and in the airport wasn’t as strong as online research had led me to believe!



Daisy showed me to the bus and we got on; I tried to swipe my bus card, but apparently you just have to hold it up to this panel for it to register. Oops!



Settling into my bus seat and finally able to sprawl, I watched the scenery go by on the way to Elizabeth’s house. Daisy was amused by my awe. Hong Kong is like Monaco and the Tatry Mountains of southern Poland... but on tropical steroids. It’s never-ending. And when you get into the heart of a district, with all its little shops selling household products and licensed butchers hanging pig parts for sale in stores that have no front wall to separate them from the outside, you really appreciate humankind’s resourcefulness and creativity. Everything is jammed into tight spaces that often times aren’t even flat -- if you’re riding along and look over to a side, there might be a steep road suddenly jutting towards the sky. The mountain is hidden by the sky scrapers, but suddenly it’s there.



Other mountains jut out all around the city, including behind Elizabeth’s house (which was a direct bus ride from the airport, no transfers). They are gorgeous and dense. I wonder if any animals live up there.



At last we get to Elizabeth’s house, which is in a scenic break in the city bustle, nestled up against a mountain (okay, EVERYTHING here is nestled up against a mountain...). Anyway, stepping through the door IS like stepping into a museum -- just as Elizabeth had said. It’s overwhelming (more stuff to look at and process, after riding through the city @.@). Daisy shows me to Elizabeth’s room where I’ll be staying so I can shower and nap, and every time I blink a new detail pops out at me. It’s so busy. I’m overwhelmed, and overwhelmed by Elizabeth’s spirit. I try not to cry and get ready to shower.



I figure I’ll nap for a couple of hours, stay of the rest of the evening, and go to sleep at a normal time. But when my alarm goes off, I am too tired. I sleep through the rest of the night, waking up at 4, and then 7, and finally 8:30. I still feel really tired, but I want to get back on schedule. Today I woke up to the smell of delicious food being cooked, then went back to sleep after breakfast and woke up at 12:30 for lunch. It’s currently 3:45, so hopefully I can stay awake until 9 or 10. So far, my eyes are still tired, though.



So, my apologies that this post was so long, but had to catch up with where my journey has taken me. Hopefully the next ones will be shorter and more up-to-date. If you have any questions let me know and I will try to answer them when I am more and more rested! 😊



Note: I'm not sure if the location I listed is correct; I just know I'm in Hong Kong and needed a location to publish this post.

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Photos

Flying There
Hong Kong

Flying In
Hong Kong

Landing
Hong Kong

Airport View
Hong Kong

Airport View II
Hong Kong

Comments

[Aly]

First part: complete
Yay, you're in Hong Kong! I liked your description of the city (city-state?). I always like to try to get a feel for a sense of place when really about a foreign area, and I feel like I can sort of get a feel for it! I hope the jet lag doesn't stay too long and just focus on the chance to get the explore the city! :)