Up, up, and away -- May 10th and May 11th

Oh what a night.  We don't often stay up this late, but since the plane left at 1:55 am on the 11th, we no choice but to stay up on the 10th, especially since we had to go to the Newark Airport at 8:00 for our appointments for Global Entry.  So -- off we went with Randall driving us and Olive staying at home to get Ella to bed.  We left their place around 7:30 and found our location with no trouble.  The only trouble was that the interview for final approval only took about 5 minutes -- for both of us, not just one of us. so around 7:55 (we were there a bit early), we were done.  Sigh.  So off we went to check in our luggage and meander a bit around the Newark International Terminal B.

                                          We clicked on "Cathay Pacific"

Problem 1:  Just as at JFK when we went to France, several airlines share windows, so we ended up waiting in the lobby for two hours before the Cathay Pacific clerks started working so we could check in our suitcase.  And there was NOTHING to do in that area of Terminal B -- nothing except go to the bathroom.

Okay, so we checked in our suitcase and then headed for Gate 54.  That section of security was miles long, and having TSA precheck did us no good because they had no pre-check line.  So we waited, and waited, and waited.  We finally got through and headed for the area where our gate was, hoping to find a grand shopping area where we could kill some time. Wrong again.  There was NOTHING except a bar, and those seats were filled with a lot of loud and obnoxious drunks.  Why were they loud and obnoxious?  Because several planes were delayed and there were hundreds of people in the little circle space holding about 7 different gates.  Harold and I found the last two seats, and everyone else was on the floor or wherever.  We sat, and we sat, and we sat.

Finally, we were called to board, and we lived happily ever after from that point on.  Well, at least while we were on the plane.  Our "premium" seats were well worth the extra cost.  No, they weren't the new, cool circular barrel first class seats but were instead "old-fashioned" first class seats.  More leg room, a pop-up leg holder, more room to tilt back than regular seats and more butt room and more leg room.  The seats were quite comfortable, and we slept quite a bit during the night -- after we had our second dinner.  By 4:00 am, we were asleep (sort of) and we sort of slept all night long.
                                      
Up over the North Pole and then down again.

                                           Glitzy cameras on this plane.  Here we are flying over China.
                                       
The service on the plane was excellent as was the food.  I'd highly recommend Cathay Pacific to you, our readers!

We landed at 4:30 am (Hong Kong time) after a flight of 15 hours plus.  Randall says it's the longest non-stop flight there is.  We were greeted by an OAT representative who helped us gather our luggage and he then took us to our waiting OAT driver in a black-tinted window and black Mercedes.  We felt as if we were the Mafia!  Off we went again, and soon arrived at the hotel, just in time for our second breakfast of the day.  We ate and decided to stay awake and push ourselves, so we signed up for a 4 hour tour of Hong Kong Island, lasting from 2:00 to 6:00 this afternoon.

Post breakfast, we went out for a walk around Causeway Bay where our hotel is located.  It was mostly a HUGE construction zone though, and outside of one slight view, we could not even see the bay.  Sigh.  I'm sure it will be great when its done though.

We got hot and decided to go back to the hotel and rest of bit before we set out on our afternoon tour.

Stay tuned to the next posting to find out if we really made it through the entire day.