kateland: Shanghai to Hong Kong...

This is a very long post. I will start with the pictures so you can have a mental image, then I will put up the story. I wrote this on a word document (because the planes didn't have internet). There are probably plenty of grammatical mistakes, the tenses are different, etc. Please keep in mind that I was in a very fragile state...

Basically we were traveling from Shanghai to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and we stopped in Hong Kong for a layover.

The last 2 pictures are actually are plane from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh, but you get an idea of what the seats look like. We weren't on a 2-story plane this time.

Copied and pasted from my word document: *Note that while it looks like you can see over the seats you actually can't when you are sitting back.

It’s Saturday June 25 and I’m on a plane to Hong Kong. This actually won’t be posted until I can access the internet (which is strictly forbidden on this plane), but that’s just fine with me. I don’t want to mess around with trying to get internet if that is going to possibly interfere with the plane staying in the sky…don’t know much about flying but I do know that I don’t want to use anything which “interferes with air traffic control.”

First about the plane. I have ALWAYS wanted to go on a two-story plane. They just scream posh and ritzy to me. Well today is my “lucky” day. When we got to gate D61 at the Shanghai airport, low and behold a two-story plane. So as my mom and I joined the “First Class/Business Class” boarding line and then exit (the Chinese are nothing if not efficient) I was just hoping and praying that we would get to be on the second floor. But I thought there was no way because we were just business class, not actually first class, and my seat was 84K, that couldn’t be good. Well once again it was my lucky day… we were shown to the stairs to go upstairs and find our seats. As if that wasn’t lucky enough…our seats were individual cubicles. So I’m thinking wow this is seriously awesome. I have never seen anything like this in person. My personal TV screen is larger than my 17” computer screen, I have a power outlet, etc. I’m talking real nice. Of course I had to blow my cover and pull out my camera. DUH. This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. So now that you know how awesome things are going let me give you some background.

I have been in China since June 21^st (left on June 20^th). On the plane over I took an ambien to adjust to the time difference, etc. (It’s important to note that I’m a light sleeper, and my mom has been waking up throughout the night every night.) Point being…. Today I’m running on very little sleep. As if that’s not problem enough I am starving. Breakfast at the hotel was great but that was at 8am. I need to eat seriously every 3 hours or so. Ok so not only am I starving and exhausted, it’s that time of the month- like the first day. I know this seems like way too much information but it is CRUCIAL for this long story. On the way to the airport things are fine but I have cramps and I’m not being particularly sweet. We get to the airport and things start looking up. My mom and I went duty free shopping and I got some Ferragamo shoes (Kelley the largest size was an 8 I swear). Anyway like a light switch things change. We go to the business class/ first class lounge to be fancy as usual, and I realize I need food. Well they have the Chinese equivalent of ramen noodles and some pork dumplings so I’m like perfect. Well NOT perfect. The cup of noodles smelled so bad to me I felt physically ill and then of course I could no longer eat the dumplings. So what did I do? I fought back tears until I could get to the bathroom and get a good cry in. (Of course Carole thinks I’m mad at her and I’m trying hard to show that I’m not HAHA). So after the bathroom cry I’m convinced the crying is over. And that takes us up to boarding the plane.

So here I am in seat 85K. Things are definitely looking up. I’m living the life in terms of air travel. However, I have started to notice that it is pouring rain outside. I mean POURING. This can’t be safe?! I would like to talk to the captain, air traffic control, whoever about getting a delay. I’m no pilot, but there has to be low visibility…doesn’t that mean anything?! So I have cozied into my 2 ½ foot wide cubicle with walls that go over my head, when it hits me, I don’t like this at all. We need a delay. This is when the pilot comes on the speakers and informs us that we do have a delay due to some tropical depression (the rain). Tropical depression?? I looked up earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, etc. but NOT tropical depressions. What is a tropical depression?? I “calm” myself by reassuring myself it is like a hurricane. Ok Well after getting a nice little nap in, I wake up in PANIC. Serious PANIC. As in we are taxing on the runway so we must stay in our seats (as well as the flight attendants), when I lock eyes with a flight attendant. I can tell she’s instantly worried that I’m about to cause a scene. I quickly avert my gaze to the window where a ball of panic is building inside of me. I somewhat stand over my wall and wake my mom up. She knows. She offers me gum in hopes that I will calm down. Gum?? I hate gum. Gum is not the answer to this panic. And then waterworks. I just let it all out. I’m sitting in this great seat, we have yet to take off and I have a full-on panic attack. The ironic thing is that I’m prescribed to xanex for times like these; however, mine is stowed away in my overhead bin. I truly wish I had a picture of this breakdown but I’m an ugly crier and that absolutely wasn’t about to happen. The unfortunate thing is that these panic attacks always happen when I can’t get up and walk around and I have to stay seated. (the seatbelts on this plane are like car seatbelts- with a shoulder strap). Well my sweet mom put her hand over the high wall and held my hand through my panic attack and tears, and gave me gum. We finally took off, only to experience pretty bad turbulence…ugh tropical depressions. We may or may not miss our flight to Vietnam, but that wouldn’t be the end of the world because Ashley Shaw told me Hong Kong is very high-end and I could use a stay at the Peninsula or the Ritz right about now. The panic attack is over, but the cramps are back. I should have learned my lesson and gotten a xanex to take but after talking to Sally I’m dying to watch Pretty Little Liars which is downloaded on my Ipad. Sorry for the short novel but it helped ease me through the panic, and I really wanted to capture what a hot mess I look like right now. I’m hoping I get to skip out on dinner tonight, because I think some room service and an on-demand movie is just what I need.

Not from my word document:

We made it to Hong Kong, and made our flight on time (barely and only because we had an escort). Here are some pictures from the air of Hong Kong, where I am now dying to go.