NOTES ON AN INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT

I watched a full episode of Chuck. There goes that New Year’s resolution.
I was wrong about the flight path; the plane went North over the Hudson, just put its nose into the Artic Circle over Alaska, then back south through Russia into China. Didn’t see a single polar bear.
I also watched Date Night (lame), How to Train your Dragon (lame), and parts of The Ghost Writer (fell asleep).
Xanax
When the Miley Cyrus vehicle “The Last Song” came on, I switched to the New Wave in-flight radio station. It was amazingly awesome, even though it repeated itself every hour. I made it a point to look around to see if any cute girls were nodding their head to New Order with me. No one was.
Total completed Sudoku puzzles: 3
Total lectures planned: 5 (of 7)
Seriously, Xanax. Especially because booze is free on international flights, and the combination is like cotton candy for adults. I spent about 6 hours of a 15 hour flight sleeping, and another three or so in a dopey haze picking at terrible food. I bought one of those neck pillows and slept like a (drunk, intoxicated) baby.
All announcements on the plane were in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin. I know how to say one word in both languages (Thank you in Cantonese is “doh tsay”, Hello in Mandarin is “ni hao”). I desperately tried to pick out these words from the flurry of language, but failed miserably. To be fair, I think the flight attendant who made the announcements in Mandarin had a speech impediment. In any case, I now know that thank you in Mandarin is “shi shi”.
The other in flight station worth listening to was the pilot’s communication channel with ground control. I don’t know why they were broadcasting it, but United Flight Eight Niner Five was in good hands the whole way. The woman who worked ground control to bring us into Hong Kong had the sexiest voice I’ve ever heard.
The landing into Hong Kong International was beautiful. We had to circle the runway a bit, and we kept making these sweeping passes across the sky line. But I saw the airport from miles away, because I watched some Discovery Channel special on how it was built and recognized it immediately.
Customs was no problem at all; I had a visa, so they didn’t even ask me any questions. Getting on the plane in O’Hare was also painless. I’m thinking I should have tried to smuggle something in.
More notes to follow.