A long, strange trip!

On my way back from Hong Kong to Boston, it was really a journey worth talking about on its own. I left my hotel at 5 am for my return journey. About an hour and a half later I was through security and off to the Delta lounge. In Hong Kong, Delta uses the Qantas Lounge which was quite nice! Had a little breakfast and then off to Tokyo. Tokyo had some strong cross winds so we had quite an interesting approach in our A330, but we were able to land with no problems.

The next step of the journey did not go so smoothly. Our flight from Tokyo to New York went well for the first 12 hours. About an hour before our scheduled landing, we were told it was going to be bumpy on our way in. Fine. So we start our descent. About half an hour into it, Captain announces that we are moving into a holding pattern. So we circle for about 40 minutes and then the captain says we are going to try and make an attempt at landing. Here is where the fun begins!

For about 30 minutes, we descend and ascend continually, bouncing around in the grey skies with no sight of the ground. As much as Suddenly the roar of the 777's huge engines pull us dramatically upwards and away from our approach. I guess at this point that we've aborted our landing and are going to try again. The pilot comes on and informs us that we can no longer attempt our landing at JFK since we've used up too much fuel in our holding pattern and would have to be diverted. At the time he was not sure where we would be going, but I was hoping that Boston would be the place due to the large Delta presence. In the end I was right and we made a b-line for BOS and landed there about 30 minutes later. Even our descent into Boston made our difficult landing in Tokyo seem like a piece of cake.

After we were on the ground in Boston, we taxied to Terminal E to join 5 jumbos that were already there sitting and waiting for a gate. The pilot then told us that the plan was to refuel as soon as possible and then head back to JFK. Well this was certainly disappointing since my destination was only 100 yards from where our plane was sitting. After about an hour and a half of waiting on the tarmac, we were told our flight was now canceled and that we would be waiting for a gate to open up and then we would disembark to go through customs in Boston. Fantastic news for me, because with all of the waiting it seemed like I would actually get home early. By the time we actually got a space at the gate it was about 7pm which was my arrival time into Boston in the first place. So in the end, by getting my flight diverted into Boston I wound up not losing any time to get home! All in all, this trip took me about 24 hours from start to finish and by the time I got my bags, I was quite ready to be home! The above picture was taken of my plane sitting on the ground in Boston, while I was sitting inside of it waiting for our gate! Quite the beautiful plane! There were about 6 777s on the ground in Boston, a few A340s and even an A380 that had been diverted from JFK. This made Boston have about the best lineup of jumbo jets that the city has ever seen! From an airline fan's point of view, quite the cool turn of events. Thank you to Delta and to the crew at Logan for making this difficult situation quite smooth and tolerable.

Beyond the great wall!

For the last two weeks, I have been in the Middle Kingdom (中国)and one of it's Special Administrative Regions. It has been a great, long trip and I've gotten a chance to experience a lot in my short time there. China is really a very interesting country, not only politically, but also from a point of view of just trying to get around as a westerner. I visited Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou on the mainland and also Hong Kong. Each region was definitely very distinct and unlike other countries, there was a really such a difference between the mentalities and development of the different cities. One thing I noticed is how many International showcases have been in China in the past 2 years. This I think has been key to a lot of the development of the country and really something great to show off all of the great things China has to show off.

Beijing was my first stop and I really felt rushed going through it. It seemed like there was so much that I didn't do and see while I was there but I really did do a lot while I was there. It's funny to say but work definitely got in the way of my sightseeing in that case. I wound up visiting 5 different schools while I was there and saw lots, so I was quite busy up until I left for Nanjing. So what did I see you might ask? The Great Wall, Olympic Site, Olympic Water Sports Park, and Hongluo Temple. So not everything, but certainly a good sampling for my first visit. It was really amazing to see how well developed the city was. The good thing about me not seeing everything is that it gives me a great excuse to go back.
Nanjing was my next stop and I was really only there for 36 hours. The weather was quite poor and I was starting to feel a cold coming on so I didn't see too much. I did my school visits and then caught up on some sleep so I was ready for my next destinations. When I was leaving Nanjing, I was treated to some wonderful snow. Just when I thought by leaving the northeast I would be away from winter, but no such luck.
After leaving snowy Nanjing, it was off to snowy Shanghai. Shanghai was another great example of fantastic China. The weather when I was there wasn't fantastic, but I did get a chance to walk around the city. It reminded a lot of Tokyo in that there were just skyscrapers everywhere! The only real disappointing thing was that there was a lot construction around the Bund making walking near the river not as pleasant as it could be. One of the cooler experience I had there was going to a "tea tasting" with some locals that I met while walking around. We went to this place that had 200 types of tea to taste and some rituals to do whilst drinking it. My next stop Guangzhou. This was my shortest stop of the trip with 2 school visits and they right back to the Airport. Just in the change from Shanghai to Guangzhou I liked how it seemed like I was going from a cold coastal climate to a warm tropical type environment. Definitely a welcome change!Hong Kong was my last stop and really the difference between this and mainland China was really quite substantial. Just the change of which side cars are driving and it seems to change everything. Hong Kong reminded me a lot of Singapore, but with a bit more natural beauty. Much easier to get around as a westerner and without speaking Chinese of any sort. I was only there for 2 days, but I feel like it was a great look into to this amazing place. I had my school visits on Thursday and did a bit of looking around on Friday. The only thing I missed which I had really wanted to see was the huge Buddha on Lantau Island. I was about to go after a morning tour of Hong Kong, but the weather was just really cloudy and I had to pack for a wicked early flight the next day.
Overall the total trip was a success both professionally and personally. I had been waiting for a long time to finally make it to China and Hong Kong and I really was happy with my experience. It was a long journey to get there and an even longer journey to get home (more on that later), but I am ready for my next adventure!