Sun 17 Oct: San Francisco to Hong Kong

The day is here. So exciting! Cathay Pacific. Super-easy checkin. Boarded the plane at 1:20 pm, scheduled departure 1:35.

But then, the pilot comes on to apologize and tell us that one tire doesn’t quite look right, so they will take a few minutes to change the wheel. A while later, sorry but the plane is full of passengers and fuel, so the jack won’t lift it — another delay while they go get a second jack. A while later, they’ve changed the tire but the nitrogen used to inflate it has run out; a short further delay while they go get another tank of nitrogen. A while later, the tire is fine, but the jack has failed and they can’t remove it from under the wheel.

During all this everyone remains in good spirits, they hand out snacks and drinks, turn on the in-flight entertainment so we can watch movies while waiting… Finally, we are OK to go, the plane pushes back, taxis all the long way around to 28R, and we take off about 4:05. Whew! That’s almost three hours in the plane before starting a 14-hour flight! In flight, the crew is great, the movies are plentiful and good, the seat is — well, coach — and the time passes. Eventually we arrive in Hong Kong and the tires don’t explode on landing, which is a good thing.

A note on the flight path: The picture shows the great circle (shortest distance) route from SFO to Hong Kong. But the flight actually went more northerly, passing almost over Anchorage and crossing a bit of Siberia.

Arrival in Hong Kong and travel to my hotel is the easiest I’ve ever had. Passport control takes only a moment, the bag is on the carousel, I’m out the door onto the airport express train to Kowloon station. At Kowloon, I come out of the MTR, and go up a few floors to the W hotel. Great place, if a bit excessive on the designer-y details. And they’ve upgraded my room to a harbor view! A nice hot bath and into a big soft bed. Zzzzzzzz…