The Long Way Home

Sunday, October 27, 2013
We got up at 5:30 am to get showered, packed and check out before breakfast. After breakfast, a bus for all the people on early flights left the hotel at 7 am. We traveled about an hour out to the new Hong Kong airport, which is mostly on landfill in the ocean, and checked in without incident.
Our first 4 hour flight on All Nippon Airways left at 10 am for Tokyo.

 As we approached the coast of Japan, we waved to our youngest son Dylan's girlfriend Kasumi, who is currently staying at her parents' home in Nagoya. I'm pretty sure she didn't see us but it's the thought that counts.

 Tokyo Narita Airport is very modern and comfortable. After I took Anita's photo, the young woman in the background offered to take a picture of both of us.

So here we are. Unfortunately, just being in the airport doesn't count as having visited Japan. Maybe we'll have to go back sometime.
After a 3 hour hangover, our next 13 hour flight on United Airlines left for Newark, New Jersey. Reality struck. The Japanese flight attendants on All Nippon Airways could not have been more gracious or accommodating. The flight attendants on United Airlines could learn a few things from them. Suddenly we were back to the Air Canada/United Airlines standard cattle car treatment.
Anita slept a bit on the flight but I just watched bad movies. When we arrived in Newark, we had to pick up our luggage, go through customs and check our luggage back in, as one does in the US. Then we had to switch terminals and go through stringent security again. They used one of the new body scanners that doesn't just check for metal. My money pouch, which I wear around my neck and under my arm, always passes security with no problem. However, this time the new scanner found an "anomaly" with my body shape so I was taken into a small room and searched. I really can't complain because it was my fault and they only searched the area of the anomaly, took my pouch apart and then did a chemical check for explosives. The security officers were formally polite but they made it very clear that their concern was the safety of the plane and not my feelings on the matter. I can't blame them for that.
We were supposed to spend 4 hours in Newark but our flight to Ottawa was delayed so we ended up spending about 7 hours there. Terminal A in Newark is very small and uncomfortable. I managed to pass out for about 45 minutes but otherwise it was a long hangover.
Our next UA flight to Ottawa took only an hour and 20 minutes but we didn't get in until about 12:30 am. That was too late for our hotel shuttle so we took a cab to the Days Inn, where we had left our car. It was after 1:30 am when we finally got to bed. That was about 32 hours after we got up in Hong Kong. Twelve days later we're still recovering from jet lag and the "sinorama cough". Getting better every day though.
The actual travel part of travel is often the worst part and you either accept it or stay home. We've decide to accept the few inconveniences for the many benefits. You'll never have many new experiences when you're sitting on your couch.
Other than the long ride home we had a great trip and saw more interesting things in China than we ever expected, and we did it with a good group of people. We can heartily recommend a Sinorama tour. We're really glad we went.
That's it for China. Next up is 3 weeks rafting the Colorado River and camping on sandbars through the Grand Canyon. Better get packed.