UMTravels

By 9am I was out of bed, had a little fruit and up the hill nervously waiting for a passing empty Red Cab. Every time Michael or his BF would call the taxi company the answer was “no cabs, try later” which doesn’t really one any good when they need to get to the airport. Red Cabs are allowed to go onto Lantau Island where the airport is. Green Cabs are local only. To make matters more stressful, Michael left his wallet at home so even though I had bus fare (to get into town) he didn’t have his Octopus card on him, and no change. He headed back to grab it… and a minute later an empty Red Cab came around the bend. Whew.

It’s about a 45 minute cab ride to the airport from Michaels place. It was amusing to see big highway signs for Lantau Island with the standard airplane for the airport and next to it the Mickey Mouse ears. No way to get a picture from a moving cab. Sorry.

Got to the airport with plenty of time for a little breakfast – that little bit of sliced mango won’t hold me until the first meal service on the plane. Eggs Benedict and a Mini-Mimosa as the ticket.

Swung by duty-free, not for booze since they won’t let that onto the plane, but to see if there are any cheap Chinese cigarettes like the ones I found in Bangkok years ago. Truly wretched according to my smoking friends, but great conversation pieces. Found some for 91HKD, which is like $12 a carton. And I even had a 100HKD note in my pocket. Then I saw something I rarely see in duty-free shops…Sobranie cigarettes in Cocktail colors.

Three times the cost, but I love these… and in Washington they are over $10 a pack.

And here is my little 747-400 home away from home… looks like this one hasn’t had the merger paint scheme done to it yet.

So, I think there is something flagged in my United file… ordered my standard double Glen Fiddich on the rocks (with a Diet Coke on the side) and he says, “That will be $14.” I go for my wallet and he says, “I’ll come back for it.” OK. An hour or two later I go to the galley and request another round… and the same conversation. So far I’m into them for $28. Then comes the duty-free cart with him in the lead…. “Come on, you need something from duty-free.” “I’m sure she’ll (the flight attendant with the credit card reader) will comp those scotches if you buy something.” Talk about motivation — $28 off anything in the catalog basically. I went for the dual-time-zone watch:

Now I just have to figure out how to set it.

In SFO after I got back through security (an annoying process) stopped at the sushi place and got a spider roll, some ahi sashimi and a little bottle of sake for the flight north. I’d forgotten that I was sitting in the front exit row with no privacy to pour said sake, but managed to pull it off. A nice hour nap followed.

Was home by two after a stop at Safeway for dinner supplies and on a lark by the T-Mobile store since it was close by. End result: Salmon and a new Windows 8 Phone. Out of pocket $34 for the phone, forgot how much the salmon was – and another $10 a month for the next 20 months. I resisted the urge to by a case for it… their selection was poor and expensive.

My new boss, Roxy, showed up at 6 for a lovely salmon bbq’d dinner with asparagus (finished on the grill), a big salad (not off the grill) and some fresh bread.

In bed by midnight. Not feeling much if any jet-lag.

Nice.

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