Book Me Baby, One More Time

Recently eaten: coconut and tapioca dessert
Recent annoyance: jet lag coupled with Daylight Savings

Well, we are officially in Hong Kong. The Mom and I started our adventure on Saturday morning. Due to a nor'easter churning off of Cape Cod, our flight from Boston to NY was canceled. My mom pretty much lost it that point when I told her there were no other flights that Delta could offer that would get us to our connecting flight. Thankfully, her daughter has entered the 21st century and purchased a laptop. I was prepared to just book another one way ticket for us to NY to get on our flight. And in fine Dad tradition through this utter chaos, my father was busy preparing a 5 course breakfast for us before we left for the airport. he was appalled that we even mentioned we might grab something when we got there. As luck would have it, my parents did not have any internet.Furthermore, all the digital cable purveyors in my enlightened hometown had secured their wireless networks. I was shut out.

No worry, I got the phone and called M. I very rudely woke him up and demanded that he play ticket agent for us. Luckily, he is a terrible insomniac, and was probably just mulling over his latest strategy to beat the 12-year olds playing Battlefield Earth online. He was able to secure the Mom and I 2 one way tickets on JetBlue to NYC. Might I add, though for no perks or flight upgrades in return, JetBlue is a great airline so far as I can tell.

So, we make it to NYC relatively problem-free and have about 5 hours until our flight leaves direct to Hong Kong. Since we are so early, they aren't even checking in general boarding, but the Mom and I wander up to the counter anyway. The ticket agent, perhaps taking pity on us because we looked a little rag tag, or amused to find a mother and daughter so similar in resemblance and mannerisms that he gave us 2 free passes to the First Class Lounge. The Mom and I, both skeptics at heart, decide that these vouchers are probably only good for a coffee or a diet coke, so we opt to eat at McDonald's. It's typical conversation, I mention something about my cholesterol, the Mom tells me not to worry about it too much between mouthfuls of french fries and she laughs through yet another unfunny story of her falling down on the sidewalk.

We walk into the First Class Lounge like a couple of teenagers sneaking in an R rated theater. We pull out every piece of documentation we own, and I give my mother a look to pretend we don't speak English if we don't get in. To our surprise, we are waved in. The lounge is like some utopia for the privileged frequent fliers and business class folks. While the rest of us plebes have to be herded into the gate area and knock elbows jockeying for a space at the front of the line with a carry-on that is just barely small enough to be considered carry-on.

The Mom and I remark on the presence of cup-o-noodles, a family favorite, and laugh at the weary travelers snoring away on comfy looking recliners. Knowing we had a 15 hour flight in front of us, the small luxury was welcome and probably kept us from killing each other. I asked my mom about Chinese people and traveling.

• Why do Chinese people especially bring their own food in containers on planes or anywhere, even if they are going to get Chinese food? (I asked this just moments after a woman had tried to sneak through an entire, unopened jar of chili-garlic sauce, and an old lady was switching her rice porridge from one tupperware to another in the ladies restroom.) My Mom shrugged at the question, and suggested that Chinese people really like to have their own food and eat their food they way they like to prepare it. I was hoping for a meatier answer, like American food is laced with all sorts of strange mind-control chemicals.

The flight was uneventful. A baby cried the entire way through, this old lady kept getting her special meal before everyone else to coincide with her medication times, and the Mom kept losing the foam pads on her cheap airline headphones so we'd fish around for them until I was sweaty in my seat.

We tour around a bit tomorrow and then we are off to mainland China on Tuesday. I hope to have pics in the next post.