And We're Off

When I was making the reservations for this trip last August, I noted that departing from Portland would require connecting through Seattle and about $200 per person extra plus the dreaded United Airlines baggage fees -- so we decided to proceed by car to Seattle and leave from there. Thankfully, Asiana Airlines -- the top ranked national airline of South Korea -- offered some great fares ($707 round trip including all taxes/airport fees) from Seattle to Hong Kong with a change of planes in Seoul, South Korea.

So, we drove to Seattle on November 29 -- spent the night and Martin's mom drove us to the Seattle airport this morning for a 1:25pm departure. I am writing this posting from the second leg of the trip -- after having flown 10 1/2 hours from Seattle to Seoul. This flight from Seoul to Hong Kong will take another 3 1/2 hours.

I can't say enough nice things about Asiana Airlines -- the friendly, attentive service reminds me of what flying USED to be like in the USA. We just finished our third full meal (all free - 2 on the first flight to Seoul along with a "snack") and unlimited, free wine and no baggage fees. I don't know what the ratio of flight attendants to passengers is, but it is apparent that it is much higher than USA carriers.

The Seoul airport was beautiful -- though a little confusing as we had to go through yet another security screening to get to our departure gate even though our departure gate was directly across from our arrival gate. Oh, well, better to be more secure and safe.

For those of you who may be interested, by the time we arrive in Hong Kong, we will have "lost" 16 hours of our lives! That's the time difference between west coast USA Pacific Standard Time and Hong Kong time -- as we crossed over the international date line. Our arrival time in Hong Kong is 10:30pm on December 1 even though it will only be 6:30am on December 1 in Seattle. So, you can figure out what time it is in Hong Kong by adding 16 hours to the USA Pacific Standard Time.

For our first night we are staying at a hotel within a couple miles of the Hong Kong International Airport -- where sleep should come easy as we have been up all night. The airport, new 11 years ago, is on a man-made island called Chek Lap Kok off the northern coast of the island of Lantau.

A quick geography lesson: The Hong Kong territory is made up of 4 main areas: (1)"Hong Kong Island" is but one island among 234 others; (2) "Outlying Islands" -- all the other islands including Lantau which is where we stayed the first night; (3) "Kowloon" - the southern tip of the penninsula directly north across Victoria Harbor from Hong Kong and (4)"New Territories" on the mainland adjacent to Kowloon.

A quick political history lesson: Until 1997, the Hong Kong territory was under British rule and so its history is quite different (capitalist system) than that of the People's Republic of China (socialism). In 1997, it was turned over to the People's Republic -- but because of its unique history, it remains politically unique. The Chinese catch phrase for this unique arrangement has been "one country, two systems." Hong Kong is now considered a "Special Administrative Region" of China.

The practical side of traveling to Hong Kong and mainland China: Because of the unique "two systems," a USA passport is all that is required to get into the Hong Kong region however in order to travel into mainland China (where Staci and Martin are working), required us to get special tourist visas -- $130 each for the visas but with special processing fees that resulted in a total cost for both visas of about $325. Interestingly, these visas MUST be obtained before leaving the USA -- as they are unavailable to USA citizens who arrive in Hong Kong without them.