About us: Seth, 50 (just turned, this is his birthday trip), family medicine doctor; Eve (me), 49, pediatrician. Wade and Charlie - our travel buddies from Atlanta since 2008 when we met on a cruise celebrating Seth's 40th birthday.
For the first time in what seems like forever, we didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to make an early flight. Our flight on American Airlines didn't leave until almost 12:30 pm. We couldn't check-in online because, according to an AA rep I spoke to on the phone, only 3 countries in the world don't allow online airline check-in: Brazil, China, and Hong Kong. So we decided to leave a bit early from home anyway to make the 1.5 hour drive to OKC to have breakfast at La Baguette Bistro at 9:30 am. We had a delicious breakfast and arrived at the airport well before our boarding time. Business Class check-in was a breeze and we were relieved to find out that our luggage would be checked straight through to Hong Kong even though we would be having fairly long layovers in Chicago and Helsinki.
We arrived into Chicago and took the transport to the international terminal where we found the Finnair Lounge after a bit of a search. It was a very crowded but nice lounge well stocked with self-service wine/beer/liquor, pre-packaged small sandwiches that you could grab on the way out the door (they were really really good), and a variety of other snacks. We hung out for a few hours and then headed to our gate.
Our first Business Class leg on Finnair was to Helsinki and took about 8 1/2 hours leaving Chicago at around 6 pm. The seats were right next to each other but roomy.
We were served dinner along with a choice of cocktails and wine. I liked what I ordered - the beet salad followed by the mushroom ravioli. Seth was not as impressed with his beef.
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| appetizer, pinot noir |
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| cheese course |
Soon after dinner was served and cleaned up, it was lights out. I did watch the movie Solo during dinner and just started watching a movie called Upgrade when I fell asleep. About 1.5 hours before landing, the lights in the cabin came back on again and we were served breakfast which was so-so. I finished watching "Upgrade" just as we were landing in Helsinki.
The Helsinki airport seemed completely deserted when we arrived the following morning. We easily found the Finnair lounge which was much roomier than the lounge in Chicago with reclining seats, sleep pods, and a larger area with food selections but I don't think the food was as good as the one in Chicago. We hung out in this lounge for quite a while having arrived at around 11 am and leaving at 4:45 pm. Helsinki has airport-wide free Wifi which was fast. I started falling asleep in the recliner so got up and went for a walk around the airport looking at the shops and marveling at how there were bathrooms every 100 feet or so.
At just before 4 pm, we gathered up our things and headed for the gate which was downstairs and very crowded. All the flights leaving from this area of the terminal - all international flights - were leaving within an hour of each other. We checked in at the gate and were put in a holding area for Priority Boarding/Business Class and then soon got on a bus that took us to the tarmac for boarding.
This plane was bigger than our last plane and Business Class had the "pod" configuration which was even more roomy than the seats on our previous flight. The flight would take another 9 1/2 hours to reach Hong Kong and had the same routine: dinner (during which I watched a movie called "Adrift") - which was really good (gravlax and potato salad followed by the pork ribs with ginger sauce and steamed rice), and then lights out. Seth enjoyed his dinner more than the previous night.
I slept for a few hours and then woke up with a few hours to go and watched another movie called "12 Strong" and finished it as we arrived into Hong Kong at around 7:15 am local time. We had been in the air for over 21 hours total and arrived almost 2 days after leaving OKC (having "lost" 13 hours on the way).
Coming into the terminal after riding the transport, a little girl in front of us was stopped by a airport staff who actually took her temperature. Soon, we walked by their Temperature Check station which I thought was very interesting.
The Hong Kong airport was a breeze to navigate and get through passport control, retrieve our luggage, and clear customs. Waiting for us on the other side holding a sign for Adventures by Disney with out names on it, was Bruce who would make sure we got to our hotel. It took about 30 minutes in a very nice Toyota van with practically no traffic to speak of (it was an early Sunday morning after all) to reach the Peninsula hotel.
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| Bruce - our local ABD guide |
Just as we walked into the hotel, we saw our dear friends Wade and Charlie coming down the stairs - they had arrived the night before into Hong Kong. We checked in and were given our welcome letter and room keys then one of the hotel staff brought us to our room (thank goodness there was one ready as we arrived so early in the morning). The room was just gorgeous. He showed us how to work all the electronics in the room: several ipads all controlled the curtains, tv, thermostat, fan, and lights. Seth was happy there was a complimentary Nespresso machine.
I was impressed by the vanity with the "pop up" cool mirror.
They even had 110 V outlets, many USB charging outlets, and power charging stations in the bedside tables. There was a hair dryer in the vanity drawer along with another power outlet for both the 110 and 220 volt hair appliances.
Wade and Charlie had mentioned breakfast (complimentary for guests) at The Veranda so we put a few things away and headed down to the 1st floor. The buffet was extensive and delicious with dim sum choices, Western choices, Japanese choices, a Congee station, an omelet station, fruit area, pastries, and more. (Just FYI, as we found out later at check out - our breakfast on the first day was not complimentary after all as check-in usually wasn't until 2 pm but they just happened to have a room available for us - the rest of our breakfasts here were complimentary).
We returned to our room for a bit of a rest before lunch at 1 pm. I got to download some pictures and get started on my vacation blog. We met Wade and Charlie for lunch at Spring Moon which was packed with people. We opted for their set menu.
The food was pretty good - maybe a bit overpriced. The waiter asked us about food allergies/preferences so I had to look up the Chinese characters for cilantro as I really hate cilantro, which is also known as "Chinese parsley".
The BBQ items were really good but was served with some jelly fish (in the center) that the boys didn't really care for.
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| BBQ meat and Chinese appetizer combination |
All of the meals we had in Hong Kong came with soup - this is very popular in Cantonese cooking. The conch soup was a little weird. The prawns, grouper, and fried rice were really good as was the dessert.
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| Steamed prawn with minced garlic |
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| Fried "Garoupa" which we think was Grouper |
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| Chilled sago with mango and pomelo |
After lunch, it was after 2:30 pm and I had planned on getting a run in with 11 miles on my schedule but since it was so late and we had to meet our fellow Adventurers in the lobby at 5:30 pm, I cut my run short to about 5 miles to give me time to shower, change, and get ready for dinner. We also had our welcome chocolates in the room waiting for us when we returned from lunch.
We assembled in the lobby at around 5:30 pm and were then escorted back to the Spring Moon restaurant up to the 2nd floor where we were in a private room. This ABD group seemed large - maybe because it was all adults with no children - about 36 of us on this tour. We did the typical introductory rounds with Adventurers from California, Orlando, Chicago, Savannah, Houston, and more.
Daisy introduced herself and told us that she has been a Guide on this particular tour since its inception in 2008. This was the first year that the itinerary started in Hong Kong. She was born in Xian and lived in Beijing with her husband and 8 year old son.
Daisy introduced herself and told us that she has been a Guide on this particular tour since its inception in 2008. This was the first year that the itinerary started in Hong Kong. She was born in Xian and lived in Beijing with her husband and 8 year old son.
Ralph then introduced himself and told us how he started out in the Disney college program in Disneyland where he was a pilot in the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea submarine voyage ride. He then moved into entertainment where he played Lago for many years in the show Aladdin and then in the last 5 years, joined as an Adventures by Disney guide.
We got a ton of instructions about our impending trip, about the bathroom facilities (they rated them up to 5 stars), the "bathroom bag" with toilet paper, bug spray, etc; the local customs (no, people aren't yelling at you, they just sound loud and like they're arguing but it's just normal speech), and the basic break down of the 12 day tour along with plans for our first full day tomorrow.
Dinner was better than our lunch but in the same set menu style. The only issue was the beef soup which was full of cilantro so I just skipped it. We were offered white or red wine. I had the merlot which was quite good and they were very generously keeping our glasses full during our entire dinner.
Dinner was better than our lunch but in the same set menu style. The only issue was the beef soup which was full of cilantro so I just skipped it. We were offered white or red wine. I had the merlot which was quite good and they were very generously keeping our glasses full during our entire dinner.
I was still so full from lunch that I just took a taste of each item. The BBQ pork/goose, and sweet and sour prawns were my favorite along with the chilled mango pudding.
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| Sweet and Sour prawns |
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| Beef soup - too much cilantro |
We were also given our Adventure Insiders pins - #5 for us. There was one other couple who had been on 4 previous Adventures. We also received a real surprise this evening - Wade, Seth, and I all have birthdays within a week of each other so even though we were here celebrating Seth's 50th birthday, we actually each received a small steam basket with a special steamed bun and birthday cards with Disney birthday pins while everyone sang happy birthday. Not surprisingly, Ralph has a wonderful voice. Additionally we got our first Disney pin to add to our lanyards - so 3 pins for us on the very first day,
I had really tried hard to avoid napping today to try and get a good night's sleep so by the time we were done, I was very very tired. We did have Daisy take our pictures for us before retiring for the evening. It wasn't even 9 pm yet,
Next post: Day 2 (10 Sep 2018) - Hong Kong, ABD Enchanted China Adults Only Tour
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