Thursday, October 30, 2008

Epilogue and Jetlogue (or lag)

I'm back. And everything is in English again.

Well, my mom and I made it to the airport in Hong Kong, for our United Airlines flight back home. The only thing that was eventful on the flight was the fact that the service was atrocious. What's ironic to me, is how no one was able to carry bottled water, or a soda onto the plane, even AFTER security. It was utterly amazing to me too, that physicians, the FAA, the airline touts the fact that one should keep hydrated, especially on a long flight. I would consider 14 hours in a plane a long flight.

Yet, at the same time, I think United only came around twice with water, they came around once with the drink cart about an hour into the flight, and twice with the Dixie cup of coffee or soda.

I knew it was a bad sign when the flight attendant started handing out a "Please Accept Our Apology" card for the bad service about 3 hours into the flight. I don't know if it's a good thing to be forewarned about the oncoming crappy service that we were about to expect, or if it would be worse not being forewarned. Either way, it was very strange.

There was some British male flight attendant who was a royal ass, once telling me that because I'm in Economy that the cream in my coffee would be milk, and then refusing to serve me an additional glass of water because I didn't want to reuse a cup with trash in it (with a used napkin and pretzel bag stuffed inside). I went dry.

Well, I was happy to get off the plane Thursday late afternoon, and made it to the baggage claim area. Of course it took an hour and a half to get through customs and to get our baggage. We made it to the bus depot to make it back to Janesville, where we were greeted by my brother and my three nieces! What a great sight to see, all of their smiling faces, and glad that we were home again safely.

The only thing now is the jet lag. I would have thought that after a week that my body would be back on track. But, I still get tired at strange times during the day (like noon) or at strange times at night (like 7pm). Or...on the other hand, I still am wide awake at 4 a.m. Again, I don't know which is better. I'm an early riser, but 4 a.m. is a little out of hand.

But what an awesome trip. My mom and I managed to bring home cool stuff for ourselves, friends and family, and for others. We got our silk comforters this past Sunday. I didn't get my guzheng like I wanted to while I was in China. BUT...I did order one online here in the States for about the same price, which should be arriving on Election Day. Here's what it looks like:

So anyhow, it's exciting.

It was great to hear feedback from some of you while we were abroad, and after we got home. I hope you enjoyed this travelogue. Keep checking back as pictures will be forthcoming. You'll get to see some of the things we experienced, as well as characters that were in this production.

Now, I think it's time for some coffee....I need caffeine to jar me out of the malaise of jet lag!


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