TENNESSEE TO HONG KONG

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After an illegal dump of trash into a Ball Homes dumpster,
we hit the road to Atlanta, a day early to eliminate the stress of driving down
I-75 and praying for smooth traffic. We
are lucky that Maggie is staying with Cassandra and Matt – and Sadie -- Harover. Maggie has apparently settled in well and is working
to stay there permanently. Other
neighbors, the Wests and the Gloeckners, are watching the house and taking care
of the yard. Thanks to everyone!

We’ve made it to Hong Kong via Heathrow Airport in
London. Our VISA card is linked to
British Air, so miles paid for our first and business class flights and a
l-o-n-g stay in the first class Concorde Room at Heathrow. Tom made reservations from London to Hong
Kong that had us leaving London the evening of Feb 13 and arriving in Hong Kong
on Feb 15, somehow crossing the dateline and avoiding Valentine’s Day
completely.

Our only frustration so far is that we sent a box of warm
clothes to our Tokyo hotel via DHL, and the box is still stuck somewhere in
Japanese customs due to poor performance on DHL’s part. We’re pretty sure that soon DHL will send the
box back to Tennessee, even though all the payments and authorizations have
been made. Grrr …!

If you’ve ever been to Hong Kong, you know the weather’s

always foggy – but we got lucky! It’s
sunny and warm and we were able to take the ferry across the harbor and the
tram up to Victoria Peak. (For those who
are as ignorant as I was, the city of Hong Kong has two distinct parts: Kowloon, at the end of a peninsula, and Hong
Kong Island itself.) We’re staying in
Kowloon, but the ferries make it easy to travel to Hong Kong Island itself,
where a sunny day lets you see the whole area from the top of Victoria
Peak.

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Photos

Ready to Go
Tom's big pack weighs 35 pounds; mine is 25.

Sandy's First Class Seat
Note the wasted leg room!