Unlucky Travels Series: Hong Kong

Hong Kong was never on my bucket list as it always appeared to be a taller Seattle to me. For the record, I was right. Despite that, I wouldn't dream of turning down an invitation for an international trip, especially to visit my sister.  She and her husband had just moved there and invited me to stay with them. I was, of course, ready for some bad luck, but from the get-go, this was a fail of epic proportions: my flight from Seattle to Vancouver was delayed, and ultimately cancelled due to fog. Fog that was, apparently, ONLY in the SeaTac area. Sidebar: who ever thought to build SeaTac airport in the current location was a moron. It is the hub for all bad weather. Of course, I flipped out on the poor gate attendant because I have yet to learn how to keep my cool in these situations. I managed to get on a flight to Vancouver a few hours later as the fog cleared up minutes after our flight was cancelled...oh, and this was on Thanksgiving.

Me posing with my statue: the year of the rabbit.

I made it to my sister's house to find a very polite little note in my suitcase stating that it had been rifled through by airport security.  I was, once again, the "randomly" selected passenger to be more thoroughly searched. Perhaps my hissy fit at the airport had something to do with it? If you've never been to Hong Kong, here is the idea: the roads are very cramped, winding, and there is a lot of travel that has to be done by water and public transportation. If, like me, you are prone to motion sickness, be prepared. The first few days were manageable, but after a while, I was almost incapacitated by nausea, and vomiting.

My stomach got a bit of a respite when my sister and I went to Thailand for a few days, but as soon as we returned to Hong Kong, it was back to the porcelain throne and stomach cramps. At the peak of it all, my sister and I made a trip to go shopping, and in order to get to this quaint little shopping town, we had to take a ferry and a two hour bus ride (I might be exaggerating but only slightly).  About five stops from the town, I had to drag my sister off the bus because I knew I wouldn't make it, so we walked the rest of the way there. I threw up a couple more times there, then a couple more times on the bus back from there as an unfortunate old lady tried to sit next to me, and I incoherently signed to her that she did NOT want to sit that close to me (all while ralphing into a plastic bag).  We made it back to their house and I spent the next 17 hours in excruciating pain, trying to keep even a drop of water down. We went so far as to try and reschedule my flight as I could not leave the couch, but, since I'm not a millionaire, that wasn't an option.  They were nice enough to place me in an aisle seat in the coach plus section of the plane though.  Perhaps I should complain of uncontrollable vomiting more often on flights?  First class: here I come.

View from a high point in Hong Kong.

Moral of the story? Skip the boats and busses in Hong Kong. Take the train.

Safe Travels,