Hong Kong Bound 3-10-10

Waking up to a thunder and lightning storm at 3:15a.m. was not a good start for our big adventure! However, that is the weather we were dealt for the flight from Birmingham to Chicago. A small jet waited on us and we had to walk in the elements to get on it, again, not good. It was raining so heavily, it looked like we might not leave, we did and barring a few big bumps we made it safely to Chicago where the weather was much better, colder though! We had a 4 hour lay over and only had to walk down the corridor to get to our next flight, very easy. The flight leaving ahead of us was going to Shanghai and there was a family that was very interested in my cell phone. Using international sign language for "Can I make a call on your phone?" I gladly dialed the phone number she gave me and a man answered in English, I told him there was a lady wanting me to call him and gave her my phone. She began speaking Mandarin at break neck speed and smiling a nodding the whole time. The conversation only last about 2 minutes and she hugged me like she would be forever grateful! I don't know if she left her purse somewhere or if she won the lottery! Whatever it was, it sounded important! She may be CSI:Shanghai! Our flight to Hong Kong was long but good. Lots of movies available to pass the time and we all were able to get 3 or 4 hours of sleep. Turns out our flight was something less than 15 hours and we flew just about 8,000 miles. Go get a map and find Chicago. Then push your finger due north up and over the top of the world into Russia, over Mongolia, over China and down to Hong Kong. That was our route!! Looking out the window you could see vast frozen uninhabited by man or beast areas! Then there would be breaks in the ice where you could see the ocean underneath. Amazing from the air. Besides movies, the kids both had required reading for school. Kathleen realized in the O'Hare Airport that she had left her second copy of And Then There Were None, on her bed. She is a lucky duck, there was ONE copy in the bookstore we found and she was able to get out of a real mess!