Mimi's Trip

Here’s Mimi’s account of her long journey:

The trip was long but not as tiring as I had anticipated. I arrived at DFW airport 3 hours before my flight for two reasons. One was that I wanted to beat the rush hour, and the second is that I always arrive early anywhere. My mother used to tell me that I must have swallowed a clock when I was a baby! I hate to be late anywhere. Of course I lost my ice cold bottle of water right away since I could not pass it at security. I bought one and sat at my gate and read, I walked, listened to my music and before I know it we were on our way. Since we were only about 50 passengers on this flight, the flight attendants threw not one but two minuscule packets of peanuts toward the little table, catch it if you can! Service left a lot to be desired.

In San Francisco I walked from one side of the building to the international departures. I did not walk very fast since I had plenty of time and it took me 20 minutes. I then stood in line to get a boarding pass and went to the gate. I lost my second bottle of water since I could not have it past security, so bought another. What a racket, $2.40 for a small bottle. I was a bit apprehensive about the long flight since this is the first time I was in coach for such a long flight and I wondered how comfortable it was going to be. I was on a row of 3 seats and the middle one was empty, so it was ample space. As I was in the waiting room I figured out that there were approximately 70% Asians, 28% Hindus, and 2% Anglos. I wondered how chaotic the boarding was going to be with all these people waiting. Singapore airline did a fabulous job boarding, it was fast and orderly. I think Air France could take lessons from Singapore Airline. Last October when I was in Paris with about 3 or 4 hundred passengers, it was mass chaos to board that large plane.

The beautiful flight attendants wore gorgeous uniforms. They were a pretty print almost a paisley but not quite, a long skirt with a border and a matching short sleeve jacket. They were not all the same color but complemented each others. All through the flight the service was superb. We had a rather good dinner (for airline food) at almost 4:00 am. Dallas time and I was ready for a meal. All through the night the flight attendants were offering cold water or orange juice, cookies, or apples. I drank a lot of water therefore I walked a lot to queue for the lavatories! I got my exercise this way. I slept about 3 hours, then listened to my favorite classical music for another 3 hours where I was not asleep but so very relaxed that I rested well. We had another meal they called “pre-landing” meal. I chose the western one since I could not stomach noodles and broccoli, nor curry something this early in the morning.

We arrive early in the morning in Hong Kong. I walked from the international arrival to domestic departures. It took a while but signs were easy to read. I had to go up on escalators and down more escalators and then take the automatic train, then up more @#$% escalators, then walk and walk to the furthest gate for my next flight. It was good to walk though.

Of course I had to throw away my second bottle of water to go though security. I did not have any HK money but they were glad to take US $. That bottle was the least expensive I bought. It was $1.40. They had to give me change in HK money. That’s fine, I will use it for my water bottle on my way back home.
The flight to Xiamen was not full. There were more Anglos in that flight and that surprised me. I didn’t expect to see so many going there. The flight was short and going through passport control and custom was painless. I was so glad to see my suitcase. Malinda and the girls were there with a welcoming sign. I was so happy to see my girls!