We Made It

Here we are in Hong Kong safely ensconced in our beautiful cabin. Our body clocks are completely turned around. It seems ages since we left the US and we did, effectively, lose a day somewhere in crossing the International Date Line. We left Tucson on 29th and arrived here at 2pm on the 31st. The flights were fine although I confess to not being a fan of Japanese food, even tho it looks beautiful.

The menu included Japanese Pond Smelt rolled with Kombu Kelp, stir fried pickled Takana Greens , spicy Cod Roe with Boiled Baby Sardines, and malt pickled Yellowtail and turnip sushi, and Soft Rice Cake with Sweetfish-shaped Castella. Can you identify which is which above because we couldn't.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see much as we landed in Tokyo at 5am and then the visibility on arrival into Hong Kong was very poor.

We've unpacked, attended the mandatory emergency drill, showered and are now off to dinner, hoping for a better menu than the one above!

Starting Out

Well, we're finally on our way. After walking the dogs 1st thing, and last minute packing, watched by one very disconsolate dog (Murphy) and one totally oblivious one (Jumbo) who was more interested in unpacking my suitcase and I matching pairs of socks, we made it out the door trying to ignore the accusing look on Murphys face.

We made it 3 miles down the road when I took inventory and realized I'd left my wallet behind! Promising start, but at least I discovered it before getting all the way to the airport.

Easy drive and flight but no bags appeared in LOs Angeles. Thankfully it was because they had posted the wrong carousel and the bags were sent to another carousel and then off-loaded and put in storage. All this brought back memories of a bag that went astray for 4 days in Italy before finally catching up with us the day we left. But with bags in tow we now had 11 hours to kill until our flight to Hong Kong.

We did have plans to have dinner with Brett's former racing manager and good friend, rod Campbell and his wife, Sandra, so we spent a happy few hours catching up with them over a good dinner at The Charthouse in Marina Del Rey.

Then it was back to the airport to check in and stand in the very long line at Security. I'd never realized how many flights left late at night for parts west - China, Australia, Fiji, Japan, etc. but we made it through and now await our flight scheduled to leave in just over an hour. Then it's 20 hours of flying to Hong Kong, including a 3 hour layover in Tokyo. Sounds like fun!

Getting Ready

Getting ready for this trip started well over a year ago when I ran the idea of a cruise in Asia by Brett and he, surprisingly, agreed to it. Having traveled on the Seabourn cruise line twice previously and loving it, I started by looking at their choices and quickly narrowed it down to a couple which I ran by Brett. We settled on a 2 week cruise departing out of Hong Kong sailing south to Singapore by way of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, leaving on January 31st. I contacted Seabourn in October of 2014 and booked a cabin, making sure to be on the starboard so that we would be in sight of land all the way. After paying a small deposit we had nothing to do but wait - for over a year!

Since we were going to be leaving from Tucson I spent several hours researching flights and trying to decide whether to fly westward or eastward. I had hoped to fly east and combine a visit to England to visit my family, and perhaps a layover in Dubai, where I (tho not Brett) had always had a hankering to visit. However, the flight logistics, not to mention the prohibitive cost, put an end to that idea.
I threw in the towel and contacted the cruise line who immediately booked us flights out of Los Angeles on All Nippon Airlines (I never even knew they existed). The cost to fly business class was even fairly reasonable, especially compared to the prices I had been looking at.
Suddenly what has seemed like a trip in the far future is now imminent and last minute panics are starting to set in. Passports in order? Check. Visas needed? Yes, but can be issued onboard tho need extra photos.Trip insurance? Yes. Shore excursions booked? Yes, but not soon enough to get the one we really wanted, which is a side trip to Angkor Wat, but was able to make some other interesting reservations, including a kayak adventure in Halong Bay on our first day. And, most important of all, arrangements for Mumbo care!

Luckily with Seabourn making the flight reservations for us out of Los Angeles, the only leg we need to concern ourselves with is getting to and from LA. Given the unreliability of airlines, I hope I have given us plenty of leeway by booking a flight out of Tucson arriving in LA at noon. Our flight from LA doesn't leave until midnight so with any luck we'll be bored in LA during our layover instead of frantic that we might miss our flight to Hong Kong.
Now its on to packing!