Arrived in Hong Kong

Many of you have asked that I chronicle the journey out as frequently as possible so you are aware of our safety. Rest assured, we are safe in Hong Kong. Los Angeles was a zoo, and the benefits of business class exhibited themselves quite clearly. We checked in with Cathay Pacific and received a "fast pass". Basically, we did not stand in line at security. There was a side door with a security guard. We went to him, he checked us, we had our bags scanned, and off we went. Total time savings - 30 minutes.

Had we not had this opportunity, we would not have been able to spend time in the business class lounge. The trip out is always the best part. I get the lounge in LAX and the lounge in Hong Kong. Drinks, food, showers, internet - all in, usually, a fairly quiet and subdued atmosphere. Not this time. The lounge was absolutely packed. There were no places to sit. We finally grabbed a dirty table the minute someone stood up and I tracked down an employee to clean it for us. Food was good, though, and we needed it to be - it was our dinner.

Of all the people in my travel party - myself, my wife, our daughter, my mother-in-law - I'm the only one who had ever flown business class. I'm not sure if I explained it with enough detail for everyone, though they all seemed quite pleased. My daughter, especially, liked the service. She sat in her big chair with her own personal TV like a little princess. When the stewards came around offering champagne, water or orange juice, they asked her if she wanted orange juice and she very enthusiastically said "Sure!".

My daughter wanted to watch Peter Pan 2 as soon as she saw the option, but fell asleep during take off. When she awoke, the first thing she did was call out for "Daddy!", because she did not really know where she was. I was half asleep myself at this point, but shot up and looked over the wall to see her sitting up on her bed. She looked up at me and said "Can I watch Peter Pan now?" Good memory.

I had seen all the movies already, so I didn't watch any of them again. Instead, I read a little of my book, and finally finished a play I've been writing the last several months. That's something I plan to do a lot more of while we're in Indonesia - write. I have probably 10 novels and plays in various stages of completeness and another 10 or so that are just ideas in my head. Without the distraction of television, I hope to complete them all in the next two years.

Thankfully, we did not sit on the upper deck for our flight. Those seats are a little more difficult to keep track of everyone in your party - plus you have to climb a flight of stairs. The flight was, for the most part, uneventful. It could have been quite an interesting flight, however. A few hours in, they asked if there was a doctor on the flight. Apparently, one of the passengers in business class (two seats behind my wife) needed medical attention. There was not a doctor on the flight, but there was a nurse. This gentleman was in bad enough condition that he required an IV. The nurse was lucky enough to receive an upgrade from coach to business class, so I'm sure she was happy. I only hope that whatever this guy has wasn't dangerous and contagious. We're flying from LA, so it can't be anything to exotic, I would imagine.

8/29 - Travel to Jakarta

After a while, a flight is just another flight. I the last few months, between work and vacations, I've been on a plane about every two weeks. Every flight experiences some turbulence; coach, first class, and business class aren't really that different on short flights; and the airlines still haven't figured out that if the overhead bins are full, it's because too many people brought on more bags than they are allowed and the bags are larger than what fits in the box outside the gate.

My travel started with a less than auspicious beginning. The airline agent was unable to provide me with a ticket. She found my reservation, but my travel agent, apparently, had not issued the tickets for my itinerary. I had to call the agency's emergency hotline and wait nearly an hour for them to actually "ticket" my travel. I did not know there was a difference between "reservations" and "ticketing". I do now. In the agent's defense, I did change the dates 3 times after we made the original reservation.

As is my preference, I'm travelling PHX-LAX-Hong Kong-Jakarta on Cathay Pacific. Singapore Airlines is the other option, and most would prefer Singapore. For me, however, Cathay has more food options (less likely for all the options to be fish). I also chew gum, so I'm nervous about travelling through Singapore. Gum chewing is illegal there and they cane you for chewing it.

When I travel, I seem to always have a moment or two where a simple observation leads to a much larger reflection. This time, it happened in the international terminal at LAX. In an episode of Cheers, Woody had not taken a vacation in years and Sam insisted he take a trip - somewhere that required a trip to the airport. Woody reluctantly agreed, went to the airport...and never left the airport his whole vacation. In his simple innocence, Woody obtained great pleasure simply from talking to all the different types of people in Boston's Logan Airport. Seeing the varied cultures walking around LAX reminded me of that episode. I'm sure, if passengers would actually talk to you for an extended period, you could spend days in fascinating conversations talking to the people that travel through LAX International.

On the flights, I watched several movies (5) and read over the documentation for the two projects I'm here to finalize the project plan for and kick off the development effort. I only slept for about 4 hours, though I think this will help with acclimating to the timezone in Jakarta. All of my flights were on time and I didn't have any of the "passenger" issues as I had on my prior flights. I did seem to get a seat on the second floor instead of on the ground floor. I'm not sure if this is the new trend - business class is on the second floor - or if I'm just getting the luck of the draw. The second floor seats are more like caves and would make travelling with small children a bit interesting.

I arrived at the Ritz to find a lot of changes from just six months ago, mostly around what they charge for and what they don't. The explanation of when their club level is open has me a bit concerned about the value of paying for it, but we'll see how it works out.

At a prior job, my CIO would commute every week from New York to Phoenix. He stayed at the Ritz, which was across the street from our offices, every visit. He did this every week for over a year. It wasn't long before all of the staff at the hotel recognized him by site and new him by name. I've only travelled to Jakarta 3 times in the last year, but the staff in the club level all recognized me and know me by name. I think that means I've spent too much time here in the last year.