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As I write this, we are 35,000 feet in the air just east of Kamchatka and approximately halfway to Hong Kong from Vancouver. We had about a 4 hour wait at Vancouver airport and saw several planes being loaded for various destinations in China Korea and Japan. I was amazed how many people would come running up after the boarding was ruled closed, Their luggage is taken off the plane and they must be rebooked! We are on a Boeing 777-300ER in the premium economy section - not as comfortable as business and first class but we are being well treated with Champagne offered before the plane even departed and then about 2 hours into the trip, a very delicious lunch. We both had a smoked salmon and quinoa salad followed by a hot lemon chicken with egg fried rice and veggies for me and beef tenderloin with garden veggies for Jean. Hagen Daz strawberry ice cream for dessert and a milk chocolate bar. Everyone settled into watching a movie and then most turned out the lights and tried sleeping. Jean has had a fitful sleep while I gave up and have been reading my book. We have crossed the international dateline now so it is Thursday at 9:39 pm Salmon Arm time. Apparently we have dropped to 32,000 feet now and are facing 118mph head winds which will certainly delay our arrival time in Hong Kong. I must comment on the Chinese staff on the plane. Most are female and impeccably dressed with not a hair out of place. All speak fluent English and Chinese, probably both main dialects. The 2 on our side are named Queenie and Josephine. The latter is tall and thin and the former short but very energetic! They just announced that we are 7 hours + to Hong Kong so still more than half way to go. Our flight has taken us up the BC coast to Alaska , then down along the Aluetians and now down past, as I said earlier, Kamchatka. We appear to be staying in front of the sun's path .We are flying over the Sea of Okhotst and are 6.46 hours from HK. I see from the map that the northern islands of Japan are coming into sight. I will stop this for a while and read again. Read a couple hours and then tried sleeping again. No sooner got to sleep when the smell of food woke me up. The cabin staff served us dinner with sweet n sour pork and rice with a dinner roll and also a baked square. Decided to try the sleeping thing again and this time seemed to manage about 3.5 hours sleep as we are now only 2.32 hours from HK and are passing over the city of Kagoshima on the southern tip of the Japan islands. We have pretty well flown right down the middle of the islands of Japan but it was far too cloudy to see any of them. Feeling very groggy right now, so will just relax before we arrive in Hong Kong.. We arrived at Hong Kong airport at about 7:30 local time. Just waiting for next section of the trip which should go at 11:45pm local time.
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Lynda 3.5 is more sleep than I get in a night, but on a plane..good for you. I feel kinked up and oh so tired thinking of the flight.....but when you arrive....aaah
Colleen Wow; that map puts the length of your flight in better perspective! Make our little flight to Buenos Aires look like a hop & skip. . Interesting to learn that you flew up over & down. So many things I don't know. Bummer that Japan was in cloud mostly; I LOVE looking at the landscape below! Happy travels!!