Saturday, January 5, 2013

This flight was from Bangkok to Shanghai.  It was a bit of a walk and once we started boarding, we had to go downstairs and get on a packed bus (standing room only) where they drove us to the plane.  We then had to walk up the steps to get to the plane.  That wasn't fun carrying my luggage.  We soon settled into our Business Class seats (this plane didn't have a first class).  They only gave us a prepackaged sandwich for our meal and a thimble of water which was all served in the dark.  Then off to sleep.  This was a 5 hour flight.  Right before landing they served us breakfast which was a crepe with scrambled eggs in it -- I tried to eat it but just couldn't get it down.  This airline food seems to be getting worse with each flight.

Once we landed in Shanghai we needed to figure out how to get our boarding pass for our ANA flight.  We wandered around aimlessly.  I really didn't think it was going to be that difficult.  We finally figured out that we had to go through Chinese immigration once again and explain to them that we weren't staying in their country -- only in transit.  It took a while but they finally figured out what we were doing after I showed them a copy of our airline itinerary.  After we got their stamp approval off we went to figure out where we needed to go to find ANA.  We went all over the place and I was getting exhausted.  Finally we found a security person that explained where we needed to go.

We got to the ANA desk at 7:00 am and someone said that the desk opened up 3 hours before the flight.  We thought that wasn't too bad because our flight was at 10:15 am so it should be opening in 15 minutes.  Well they finally opened at 7:45 am.  We were second in line so we thought we would just breeze through and we would be on our way.  When we explained what we needed they asked us about our luggage.  I explained that it was checked all the way to Chicago.  They then explained that we were supposed to pick it up and recheck it with them.  I thought I was going to lose it at that point.  I think the lady could sense that and told me not to worry that they would help us.  Good thing since our luggage was in a secured area and there was no way we would be able to get in to get it.  One of their employees escorted us through a back way to get back into the secured area, took us to our luggage that had been put to the side, and loaded it onto a trolley for us.  He then told us to go out the way we had earlier and come back up to their desk. We did that but stopped briefly to put the amenity kits that we had received in the checked luggage.  As we finished that, he was waiting for us at their desk and took us to the front of the line to be processed.

This time we got a different person to process us.  I asked her about checking our luggage all the way through to DFW and she said yes.  Then after numerous phone calls to someone (speaking Chinese) she said she could only check it through to Chicago.  However, she was going to give us all our boarding passes so we wouldn't have to track down United and get the ones from them.  That was nice to hear.  After she processed us, we were free to go through security which is very easy in Shanghai.

This 2 hour flight we were in Economy so we had no lounge access.  We got to the gate and wanted something to eat.  I told Krista I couldn't walk another step.  She said no worries, I will go check it out.  She came back with ham and cheese sandwiches for us which were pretty good for airport food.  It wasn't long till they started boarding us.  We were towards the front of the line and went to our seats on row 25.  It was difficult to get our things in the overhead because of all the people coming, but we finally did.  Krista has been helping me get my carryon (with laptop in it) into the overhead bin.  It is very awkward because it doesn't have a handled to help get it in the bin.  It is my new Vera Bradley bag and I am not sure I like it for this reason. It would be fine if I could just put it under the seat in front of me (sometimes I can) but this seat, it wouldn't fit and you can't do that in first and business class.

Soon after we took off (maybe even before), I went to sleep.  I was beginning to get tired.  At one point I woke up and Krista said they were serving the meals.  I told her that I didn't want anything.  I couldn't believe that on a 2 hour flight in Economy they were serving a full meal.  I was impressed.  However, I got a look at Krista's meal and there is no way I could or would eat that -- it stunk.

The flight was over quickly and we landed in Tokyo Narita airport.  Once again we had to go through security and the lines were pretty long but we did get through and off to our gate we went.  We were hoping we could find a lounge nearby but had no idea where anything was and I know we walked at least 10 miles to get there.  As we turned the corner I thought our gate would be there but instead there was a HUGE United Club Lounge.  We went in to see if we were in the right place and we were.  I immediately asked if there was someplace we could take showers and they directed us to them.  We checked in and were assigned a shower room.  There was a sign up saying not to take more than 20 minutes so we had to rush.  I knew that wouldn't be a problem for me but I wasn't sure about Krista.  The rooms were very nice with everything provided for you.  After a quick shower with clean clothes, I was good to go.  As I came out, Krista was right behind me.  I was impressed.  She had even washed her hair and dried it.

We then found us a seat (the lounge was not yet very full) and then went to check out the food.  There really wasn't that much to eat, but if you wanted liquor, there was plenty of it.  At first I just ate a banana and a glass of water but Krista found some potato chips and cokes and that was good my next time up.  Krista found us a place to go set up our computers and charge them so we spent the rest of the time there. I charged my computer on one desk and my iphone on another desk.  We decided to leave the lounge about 15 minutes before boarding because Krista needed to purchase some ear plugs to help with pressure at one of the stores.

We then went to our gate.  People were getting in line so we got in line also.  It wasn't long before they announced that they were getting ready for boarding.  They even scanned a few of the boarding passes and then they stopped and called those people back.  It seemed there were mechanical issues with the plane so we were all waiting.  They came back from time to time to give us updates.  They finally came over to us and told us to go back to the lounge because it would be awhile.  We went back there but they were closing down and there was no more food.  We were about 2 hours late in boarding.

The flight was about 11 hours I think. The meal service was very quick and pretty good.  I opted out of dessert (ice cream) and off to sleep I went.  I think I slept most of the night and got up when I smelled coffee.  It was time for breakfast.  I began to worry about our connection to DFW.  We only had a 3 hour layover there and 2 hours of it was eaten up with our late departure.  I asked the flight attendant and she told me that we had plenty of time.

As soon as we landed, we ran all the way to immigration (20 miles).  The lines were short so we got right through.  Then the waiting game began -- waiting for our luggage.  Mine came out pretty quick.  I think Krista's were the last pieces off.  There was no way we could make our connection.  We still had another line to go through.  Once we got through that, we went to the transfer desk with our luggage and I told her we were trying to get to DFW.  She looked and said you have 14 minutes to drop your luggage off and get to the plane -- no way.  I asked her if there was anything else.  She looked and said no and once again urged us to run to catch our flight.  I told her that my luggage needed to be tagged to DFW since it was only tagged as far as ORD.  She then wanted my luggage receipts.  I had to dig through my overstuffed purse to find them.  I then asked her if American had anything.  She checked on that and said -- "oh, you have already been rebooked on American".  Ok.  One minute you tell  me to run, then you tell me I am rebooked on American.  Well at least it was a couple of hours before American left so I didn't have to run.  She sent us off to the American counter and they checked our luggage through to DFW and gave us boarding passes.

Boarding passes in hand, we got on the train to take us to the correct terminal and then walked another 30 mile to our gate.  While sitting at the gate, I noticed that our gate had changed.  Krista was out walking around so I sent her a text telling her that our gate had changed.  We picked up all our stuff and then moved to the new gate (only 1 mile away).  When it got time to start boarding this plane, there were problems, delays, and more delays.  I was afraid they were going to cancel it, but they didn't.  They found us another plane 1/2 mile away.  Soon after we got to the gate we started boarding.  United didn't put us in first class which kind of irked me, but they did get us the bulkhead row which was good.  The flight was only a little over 2 hours which went fast -- and they had Diet Dr Pepper!

We landed around midnight in Dallas.  We thought we were finally home.  We had to wait just a little while longer.  It seemed there was no gate agent in sight to let us off the plane, so we waited, and waited and waited.  I guess one thing was good.  By the time we got off the plane and to the baggage claim, Craig and Jim already had all of our luggage claimed and we were ready to go!  After all we had only been traveling about 48 hours and about 40 of these hours had been on January 5 since we crossed the international date line on the way back.

Well this has been a good trip, but I am glad we are home.  I hope Krista has a speedy recovery now that she can rest.

However, standby -- my next trip is coming up in March 2013.  I will be going on an Asia Cruisetour.  We will be visiting China, Vietnam, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, Singapore (I think that is all).  There won't be as many flight connections on that trip but I am sure there will be some excitement along the way.

Friday, January 4, 2013

We start for home today.  Checkout at the hotel is at 11:00 am and the car will pick us up at 2:00 pm for our 5:00 pm flight to Bangkok.  I asked the ladies at the Horizon Club what we were to do between 11:00 am and 2:00 pm.  They said we could visit the city one last time or sit in the Horizon Club.  I was all for just sitting, but Krista had different ideas.  Even though she was sick, she wanted to go to the city one last time and shop for those last minute souvenirs which we had absolutely no place to put in any of our luggage.

At 11:00 am off we went into the city.  It wasn't really that far down to the water front from our hotel.  Getting there was easy, straight DOWN a hill.  Getting back was going to be more challenging, straight UP a hill.  I also must mention that it was very HOT outside.  I don't remember what Krista purchased, but I decided that I needed a bag that was big enough to put my oversized purse in (it was stuffed to the brim) so I would have a place to put other stuff along the way.  All of our flights would be giving us amenity kits so we needed somewhere to put those.  Krista was also checking a bag that she used as a carryon coming over and the handles on it flopped around.  She was afraid they would get ripped off so wanted to get some tape to tape them together.  We went into a convenience store to purchase a roll of tape.  It was $4.95 and she tried to pay for it with a credit card.  They said she had to charge $5.00  to use the credit card -- no problem, I just added on a $3.00 Dr Pepper and we were good to go.  I told Krista that I wanted to go back to the hotel and relax a bit so off we went straight UP the hill.  By the time we got back I was totally out of breath and soaking wet.

We went straight up to the Horizon Club to relax.  They were beginning to put out their mid-day snacks and I had a brownie and a little pecan pie.  They were heaven.  I didn't even know they had these snacks in the middle of the day.  I told Krista to look at what we had been missing while we were there.  They had free wifi in the club so we both surfed the internet for a while.  Around 1:50 pm we made our way downstairs and as we got off the elevator our driver was there waiting on us.  He gathered up our luggage and loaded it in the car and off we went.  It took less than 30 minutes to get to the airport.

Checkin at Thai Airways counter was very easy.  However, we had a complicated itinerary and I watched her closely as she tagged our bags.  She said that she could only tag them to Chicago per US rules.  I knew that was incorrect, but how do you argue with them?  Our first 2 flights were on Thai Airways, next was ANA, then our remaining flights were on United.  She would only give me boarding passes on our Thai Airways flights and said that when we got to Shanghai we would have to get our ANA boarding passes.  I am glad we had a 4 hour layover in Shanghai to allow for stuff like this.

After checkin was complete, they gave us a fast pass to get through security.  As we were going through, I got stopped after security.  They said they needed to check me for explosives.  I patiently waited while they swabbed all my clothes, shoes, carry on luggage (both inside and out) -- I passed and they told me I could go.  I noticed that Krista was being held up at security and they were going through her carryon luggage.  It seemed that she had a very small pair of cuticle scissors that she had traveled with throughout her travels in Europe and the US and they had always been ok.  Evidently Australian security decided they were a threat so they took them away from her.  Oh well.

We were in search of the lounge to relax the hour before our flight left.  It was near our gate which was nice.  It was very big but completely packed!  I guess no flights had left yet because soon after we got there things started clearing out.  They had a little hot dog cart there so I made myself a hot dog.  I wasn't sure I would like any of the food on the plane or not.  It wasn't bad.

It was time to board our plane.  We were in first again with our own little suites.  Very nice and private.  The food this time was a little better than last time and they didn't try to force feed you everything they had to offer like they did last time.  They only gave us what we wanted which was nice.  The meal service went much faster this time.  I wasn't as tired this time so I watched some movies before I went to sleep on this 9 hour flight.

Once we arrived in Bangkok they were waiting for us again and took us on a golf cart to get us through security and into the lounge.  It was late at night -- almost midnight and the lounge was packed.  We only had about an hour there before we headed off to our plane.  (continued on Saturday, January 5, 2013).

Thursday, January 3, 2013

This is our final full day in Sydney and we still had not decided what to do.  There are so many things to see and do in this city.  We finally settled on doing the Hop On Hop Off Bus tour and if we saw something along the way we wanted to see we could just hop off.  The whole loop of the City tour was supposed to be 90 minutes but it was taking so much longer.  It seemed like they stopped and just sat for no reason.  I don't know what was going on.

After we had been on the tour about 90 minutes we jumped off the bus about half way through the route and hopped on another bus to do the Bondi Beach loop.  When we got to Bondi we hopped off to take a look and pictures.  It was absolutely beautiful.  While we were there we stopped for a bite to eat. While we were eating it became obvious that Krista really felt bad.  When she got up that morning she said that both of her ears were stopped up and she couldn't hear.  I asked the people at the wait staff if they had doctors where you could just pop in without an appointment and they said yes and told me where the closest one was.  It was only about 2 or 3 blocks away so we went to check it out.  When we got there they said that location you had to have an appointment and they couldn't see her until the next day.  We went and got back on the bus and picked up the original city tour where we got off.  When we got back to near the first of the tour we got off and went back to our hotel.

It was really getting warm outside and when I got back to the hotel and looked in the mirror I saw that I was sunburned and we had not even sat up on top of the bus the whole time.  In fact we had just sat on top for the first 90 minutes.  The rest of the time we rode inside.  I asked at the hotel if there was a doctor nearby and they pointed me in that direction.

We got to the doctors office fairly quickly and there was only one person ahead of her which was nice. They were very quick and efficient.  It seemed that she has bronchitis and a double ear infection.  They gave her a prescription which we were able to fill nearby.

On the way back to the hotel we decided to go to several stores and look around.  I needed to see if there was anything I needed to get Kylie because she is so deprived.  I did make a quick stop at the Ugg store.  That's all I am saying.

We got back to the hotel and had a message that they needed to coordinate our transfer to the airport on Friday so we got that taken care of.  We tried to go to the reception in the Horizon Club but there were so many people in there and no place to sit.  I looked to see what they had to eat and none of it looked very good so we passed and went back to the room for the night.

January 2, 2013

This morning we got off that "Rocky" ship but first we had to get up by 6:00 am so we could watch the ship sail into Sydney Harbor.  We returned to a different dock than we left from which meant that this time we had to go under the Sydney Harbor Bridge.  I had read on Cruise Critic that the ship wouldn't fit under the bridge so I wanted to see if they knew what they were talking about -- they didn't -- it fit perfectly.

Our disembarkation number was Black 1 which mean that we could get off the ship anytime between 7:30 and 9:30.  We took our time getting ready and got tired of sitting around so we finally left the ship around 8:30 am.  It was very easy getting off, getting our luggage and getting a taxi.  We were at the Shangri-la by 9:00 or so.  I didn't figure we would be able to check in that early but we asked anyway.  We had reserved a Opera House view with twin beds.  I had talked to them about the reservation when we stayed there 1 night pre-cruise.  They said there were only 5 of these rooms in the hotel so that we probably would have to wait until checkout time to get a room.  When trying to check in I was told that this type of room would not be available at all.  They said they could give us a king room with a rollaway bed.  I told them no.  They then said we could have a room on the 4th floor.  I said no.  I was paying a pretty good penny for this room and I expected some kind of view and the 4th floor definitely wouldn't do that.  I told them that I had booked the room directly with the hotel in May 2012 and that they shouldn't have sold me something if they couldn't deliver.  They told me that they would talk to their supervisor to see if they saw a room available that they were not seeing.  It didn't take them long to tell us that they had a suite available that they could put a rollaway bed in.  I knew their suites weren't shabby so we agreed to it.  The room has a spectacular view and is huge.  It also has a window that looks down into the Horizon Club (Concierge Club).

Krista rested a bit when we got to the room.  She is still pretty worn out from being sick.  At 2:00 we met our friend, Kris, that we met on the Alaskan cruise in 2011.  She lives outside of Sydney and came in to see us.  We walked down near the Opera House and got a bite to eat and then walked over to the Opera House and walked around.  There are so many people here now.  They must have come in for the big New Years Celebration that they had.

Today is Krista's bridge climb.  It is right down the street from the hotel.  I walked down there with her and then walked on back.  On the way back I went in a little grocery store and looked for Diet Dr Pepper.  They only had regular Dr. Pepper so I got that.  This one was only $2.80 for a can and tasted so good going down.

Krista's bridge climb is supposed to be at 5:05 pm and it lasts 3.5 hours. I can see the bridge perfectly from our room and I know that she is up there somewhere.  I hope she is having a good time.  I just wish that I felt confident enough to do it with her.  While we were standing in line to get her paperwork, some goof ball came in there and asked if it was free to do the climb.  They were quite surprised to find out there was a cost.

I am sure when Krista gets back we will go on to bed.  We have had a busy day and a busier day tomorrow.  Since we will only be here 2 nights we have to cram in everything that we can.  There are so many things to do here and I still am not sure what we will do.  We are thinking Hop on Hop Off Bus, Aquarium, and Sydney Wild Life Park.

Our ship the ms Oosterdam should be leaving soon and I want to see it.  Also the Crystal Symphony ship is here and scheduled to leave soon.  It didn't look like there were people getting on the ship today so I looked up their itinerary and it looks like it spent 2 nights here so they got to see all of the New Years celebrations.  I am sure that was exciting for them.