A 14-Hour Flight: From San Francisco to Hong Kong

I finally finished the monster that is packing 2.5 months of clothes, hygiene items, and books all in one suitcase and a backpack. The suitcase weighed in right at the limit - exactly 50 pounds. My family decided to take advantage of me bringing only one suitcase (we're allotted two each and there are five of us) by packing five suitcases and four cardboard boxes. Most of them are filled with food, toys, or gifts. With this much luggage it looks like we're going to Ulaanbaatar for good.

I have two little brothers traveling with me, ages two and four. I think the trip from San Francisco to Hong Kong was the longest flight either of them had ever been on. There was crying and whining and the older one had a big problem with the descent; the change in pressure was hard on his ears. He calmed down once we gave him a hard candy and he saw everything below. Soon enough he was shouting about the fast-approaching airport below us. Overall they were very well behaved, especially considering the flight was 14 hours long.

We flew with Cathay Pacific, which I highly recommend for air travel to Asia. Immediately after take-off was dinner, which included proscuitto and melon, a choice between three entrees (I went for the salmon, mashed potatoes, and green beans), bread, and Haagen-daz ice cream for dessert. I was far and beyond impressed. I spent the next several hours switching between reading, watching films (they had a good selection - for free!), and sleeping. For breakfast they provided eggs, a hash brown, a muffin, and fruit. The trip to Hong Kong was far smoother than my past trips across the Pacific have been.

We arrived in Hong Kong at 5:30 am. It was 77 degrees fahrenheit with 74% humidity. I had no idea how warm it would be. The heat and humidity hit me as soon as I stepped off the plane, so I was grateful for the well air-conditioned (and free wifi-providing) airport. And so now we wait. In five hours, we'll be boarding a plane to Ulaanbaatar. The first part of our trip was long, but I think I can safely say, "So far, so good."