I'm logging in from the San Francisco airport right now. The airport has wireless, but it costs money to use it. That's okay, it's worth it, especially since I'm not sure when I'll get my next chance to blog.
I wrote this entry in my journal while I was on the plane, so let's go back in time a little bit...
About 6:15
At the Portland Airport (PDX). It took a long time to get through all the checks, and this will not be the longest, by far.
We woke up at 3:45 this morning. Everyone was pretty cranky, especially since we were all so wired we couldn't sleep last night. Raja and the boys gave me birthday cards, which cheered me up (I was already the least grumpy person.) The cards were great! We took our showers and dressed and carried all our stuff downstairs to wait for the airport shuttle. We missed the first one because there were so many people that the four of us and all our luggage simply couldn't fit.
About 15-20 minutes later, the next shuttle came, and we hopped on after a flight crew (they always get priority because they fly the planes!) We crammed all our stuff in, and the guy drove us to the airport. He helped us with our bags, and we gave him a tip. We put all of our bags on a cart (which costs about $4.00: just to put your bags on it and wheel it into the airport!)
First we went through a big revolving door and stood in a loooooong line in order to weigh and check in our bags. The suitcases that get checked in (which means they get put in the cargo part of the plane) can only weigh 50 pounds or less. If they weigh more, you have to pay an extra fee. Each person is allowed 2 suitcases under 50 pounds, plus a carry on and a personal laptop bag, purse, or backpack. We checked in four suitcases. (We kept 2 backpacks, 2 laptop cases, and 2 carryons.) We plan to bring more back, which is why we didn't pack too much for our journey there.
When you check in your luggage, they put a special tag on it that shows your destination. In our case, our luggage is flying to Mumbai. Hopefully it won't get lost on the way!! At check in, I had to show my passport, boarding pass, and ID. Turns out, I forgot to sign my passport! It's okay, I did it right there, and everything was fine.
After our luggage was tagged, we wheeled it over to this giant machine. The machine is an X-ray which is used to make sure the luggage does not contain anything dangerous, like lions, monkeys, warthogs, or explosive devices. After we dropped off the cart with our luggage, we had to stand in another line to reclaim our passports and boarding passes.
Even though Raja tried to get me a First Class upgrade, the flight was too full. That was okay with me, though, as I'd rather sit with the guys anyway.
After we got our paperwork back, we had to go through the most annoying line of all: security. It's always kind of a big deal. I would have liked to take a picture, but it's not allowed. When you go through security, there are a lot of grey bins. You take a couple, and put the following things in: your jacket, any hats or scarves, your shoes (you have to take them off first), your 1-quart bag of gels and liquids (all 3 ounces or less: this includes shampoo, lotion, toothpaste, sunscreen, mouthwash, lip gloss, etc.), your laptop (out of the sleeve, although I thought I read that you could keep it in now, but Raja travels all the time, and he's kind of bossy, so I just did what he did), your camera and phone, and your jewelry. You also put your carry on bag and personal bag along with the bins on a conveyor belt which takes it through a smaller x-ray machine.
As your stuff goes through, you have to walk through the metal detector. I was so tired that I forgot to take off my jewelry, and I beeped! Luckily, I was also too tired to be embarrassed. I went back out and put all my metal bits in a small bin, but it tipped over as it came out of the x-ray machine. I found everything quickly except one earring.
I was sad because I really like these earrings, and I had just bought them especially for the trip. I looked around, and had begun to accept defeat, when once of the Security guys came over and told me he'd found it! I was so happy. It was nice of him to take the time to look for it, especially since the airport is so busy in the mornings with everyone taking early flights. It's good to know that there are such nice people in the world, who go out of their way to help you.
It took me a while to get everything back on and put together, but I'll be better prepared next time. We bought some coffee and doughnuts to share, and walked over to sit in the waiting area at Gate E-1. After a short time, we boarded the plane. We were the second group called (people are called in groups so that there is less chaos. The plane usually fills up from the front to the back.) I sat in the middle, over the wing, which is where I usually end up sitting. The guys let me sit by the window, which I prefer, because I like to take pictures out the window.
(Now, at this point, I am writing on the plane.)
Captain Miller is our pilot. Once we got on the plane and fastened our seat belts, we watched a safety video, which tells us what to do if the plane crashes.
There must have been a few planes in front of us in line for take-off, because we didn't actually take off until 7:30. This means we'll be in San Francisco at about 9. Our plane to Hong Kong leaves at about 1, so we're fine. Hopefully that plane won't be late, because our layover in Hong Kong is actually quite short, about 90 minutes.
There are a lot of cranky people at the airport today, mostly because we all had to get up at 4 in the morning or so to be here on time. I was having an interesting conversation with the boys about genetic traits and tongue curling when the lady behind me stands up and says in a sharp tone of voice, "Could you tone it down? We're trying to sleep. The kids are okay, it's not their voice we're hearing." At first I was kind of annoyed, but I let it go because I figured she was just tired, and I was kind of loud. I am not going to let anyone ruin my day. After all, it's my birthday (officially since 6:44 this morning) and I'm determined to have a great one. I might take a short nap, too, because I'm tired and this part of the trip is not the most exciting part, anyway. Nap Time!
(a little while later)
When you're flying and you're looking out the window at the wings and the land below, it seems as if you are moving very slowly. However, you're really moving really really fast. It takes 1 hour and 22 minutes to get to San Francisco from Portland, a distance of 538 miles.
Challenge: how many miles per hour are we flying?
(Hint: it's 538 miles divided by 82 minutes.)
Out the window I see beautiful clouds. I love taking pictures of clouds. They all look different from above. Some look like snow, others look like cotton or cotton candy, or big, fluffy pillows. I think they are incredible.
The guy in front of me has a comb-over (you know, when a guy is going bald, so he grows some of his hair longer and tries to comb it over the bald spot, hoping no one will notice?) There is also a suspicious bad odor coming from his direction...maybe he ate a chili dog last night. Oh well, the flight is short.
I didn't eat much this morning, and my tummy is starting to grumble. It's okay. I actually have food in my bag, I'm just too lazy to bend over and pull it out right now.
Pretty soon, we're going to start our descent into S.F. We're still about 45 minutes out. This was a pretty quick flight, but the next flight, to Hong Kong, is going to be the longest (almost 14 hours.)
I'll post pictures when I can, as I have been taking quite a few.
****
Present moment...
Our flight to Hong Kong is 10 minutes early. That's good. We're sitting at a restaurant. I'm typing this blog, Raja is working, and the boys continue to play DSi. I hope their batteries don't run out too soon. They will be sooooooooo bored on the long flight (although we will surely sleep through a lot of it.) Only a couple more hours until we board the plane, but I'm going to take a break from typing, and maybe eat something. I'm exhausted!!!
Until next time, be good!
I wrote this entry in my journal while I was on the plane, so let's go back in time a little bit...
About 6:15
At the Portland Airport (PDX). It took a long time to get through all the checks, and this will not be the longest, by far.
We woke up at 3:45 this morning. Everyone was pretty cranky, especially since we were all so wired we couldn't sleep last night. Raja and the boys gave me birthday cards, which cheered me up (I was already the least grumpy person.) The cards were great! We took our showers and dressed and carried all our stuff downstairs to wait for the airport shuttle. We missed the first one because there were so many people that the four of us and all our luggage simply couldn't fit.
About 15-20 minutes later, the next shuttle came, and we hopped on after a flight crew (they always get priority because they fly the planes!) We crammed all our stuff in, and the guy drove us to the airport. He helped us with our bags, and we gave him a tip. We put all of our bags on a cart (which costs about $4.00: just to put your bags on it and wheel it into the airport!)
First we went through a big revolving door and stood in a loooooong line in order to weigh and check in our bags. The suitcases that get checked in (which means they get put in the cargo part of the plane) can only weigh 50 pounds or less. If they weigh more, you have to pay an extra fee. Each person is allowed 2 suitcases under 50 pounds, plus a carry on and a personal laptop bag, purse, or backpack. We checked in four suitcases. (We kept 2 backpacks, 2 laptop cases, and 2 carryons.) We plan to bring more back, which is why we didn't pack too much for our journey there.
When you check in your luggage, they put a special tag on it that shows your destination. In our case, our luggage is flying to Mumbai. Hopefully it won't get lost on the way!! At check in, I had to show my passport, boarding pass, and ID. Turns out, I forgot to sign my passport! It's okay, I did it right there, and everything was fine.
After our luggage was tagged, we wheeled it over to this giant machine. The machine is an X-ray which is used to make sure the luggage does not contain anything dangerous, like lions, monkeys, warthogs, or explosive devices. After we dropped off the cart with our luggage, we had to stand in another line to reclaim our passports and boarding passes.
Even though Raja tried to get me a First Class upgrade, the flight was too full. That was okay with me, though, as I'd rather sit with the guys anyway.
After we got our paperwork back, we had to go through the most annoying line of all: security. It's always kind of a big deal. I would have liked to take a picture, but it's not allowed. When you go through security, there are a lot of grey bins. You take a couple, and put the following things in: your jacket, any hats or scarves, your shoes (you have to take them off first), your 1-quart bag of gels and liquids (all 3 ounces or less: this includes shampoo, lotion, toothpaste, sunscreen, mouthwash, lip gloss, etc.), your laptop (out of the sleeve, although I thought I read that you could keep it in now, but Raja travels all the time, and he's kind of bossy, so I just did what he did), your camera and phone, and your jewelry. You also put your carry on bag and personal bag along with the bins on a conveyor belt which takes it through a smaller x-ray machine.
As your stuff goes through, you have to walk through the metal detector. I was so tired that I forgot to take off my jewelry, and I beeped! Luckily, I was also too tired to be embarrassed. I went back out and put all my metal bits in a small bin, but it tipped over as it came out of the x-ray machine. I found everything quickly except one earring.
I was sad because I really like these earrings, and I had just bought them especially for the trip. I looked around, and had begun to accept defeat, when once of the Security guys came over and told me he'd found it! I was so happy. It was nice of him to take the time to look for it, especially since the airport is so busy in the mornings with everyone taking early flights. It's good to know that there are such nice people in the world, who go out of their way to help you.
It took me a while to get everything back on and put together, but I'll be better prepared next time. We bought some coffee and doughnuts to share, and walked over to sit in the waiting area at Gate E-1. After a short time, we boarded the plane. We were the second group called (people are called in groups so that there is less chaos. The plane usually fills up from the front to the back.) I sat in the middle, over the wing, which is where I usually end up sitting. The guys let me sit by the window, which I prefer, because I like to take pictures out the window.
(Now, at this point, I am writing on the plane.)
Captain Miller is our pilot. Once we got on the plane and fastened our seat belts, we watched a safety video, which tells us what to do if the plane crashes.
There must have been a few planes in front of us in line for take-off, because we didn't actually take off until 7:30. This means we'll be in San Francisco at about 9. Our plane to Hong Kong leaves at about 1, so we're fine. Hopefully that plane won't be late, because our layover in Hong Kong is actually quite short, about 90 minutes.
There are a lot of cranky people at the airport today, mostly because we all had to get up at 4 in the morning or so to be here on time. I was having an interesting conversation with the boys about genetic traits and tongue curling when the lady behind me stands up and says in a sharp tone of voice, "Could you tone it down? We're trying to sleep. The kids are okay, it's not their voice we're hearing." At first I was kind of annoyed, but I let it go because I figured she was just tired, and I was kind of loud. I am not going to let anyone ruin my day. After all, it's my birthday (officially since 6:44 this morning) and I'm determined to have a great one. I might take a short nap, too, because I'm tired and this part of the trip is not the most exciting part, anyway. Nap Time!
(a little while later)
When you're flying and you're looking out the window at the wings and the land below, it seems as if you are moving very slowly. However, you're really moving really really fast. It takes 1 hour and 22 minutes to get to San Francisco from Portland, a distance of 538 miles.
Challenge: how many miles per hour are we flying?
(Hint: it's 538 miles divided by 82 minutes.)
Out the window I see beautiful clouds. I love taking pictures of clouds. They all look different from above. Some look like snow, others look like cotton or cotton candy, or big, fluffy pillows. I think they are incredible.
The guy in front of me has a comb-over (you know, when a guy is going bald, so he grows some of his hair longer and tries to comb it over the bald spot, hoping no one will notice?) There is also a suspicious bad odor coming from his direction...maybe he ate a chili dog last night. Oh well, the flight is short.
I didn't eat much this morning, and my tummy is starting to grumble. It's okay. I actually have food in my bag, I'm just too lazy to bend over and pull it out right now.
Pretty soon, we're going to start our descent into S.F. We're still about 45 minutes out. This was a pretty quick flight, but the next flight, to Hong Kong, is going to be the longest (almost 14 hours.)
I'll post pictures when I can, as I have been taking quite a few.
****
Present moment...
Our flight to Hong Kong is 10 minutes early. That's good. We're sitting at a restaurant. I'm typing this blog, Raja is working, and the boys continue to play DSi. I hope their batteries don't run out too soon. They will be sooooooooo bored on the long flight (although we will surely sleep through a lot of it.) Only a couple more hours until we board the plane, but I'm going to take a break from typing, and maybe eat something. I'm exhausted!!!
Until next time, be good!
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