United 895
Tuesday, February 15, 2005. 7:00 AM HK

Time for some backtracking.

Saturday Feb 5 at about noon I was scheduled to leave Chicago O'Hare destination Hong Kong on United 895 . Because the trip is over 5 hours, my company allows me to fly business class. The trip is significantly over 5 hours... it's just under 16 hours to Hong Kong, and just over 14 hours coming back. A few days before departure, I decided that I wanted to experience luxury, so I upgraded myself to first class for the ORD-HKG segment. First class on a three class aircraft (First/Business/Steerage) is very cool. The first class "suites" are individual seat pods, complete with personal video players, chairs that extend into flat beds, a power outlet to plug laptops / DVD players / whatever into, plus the personalized service that one would expect from First Class. I wasn't going to upgrade myself for the trip home, but the more I think about it, I think I will. It was that nice.

When I got to O'Hare, the flight was already posted for a delay. They claimed aircraft service issues, which I never take to be a good thing. I hung out at the Red Carpet club for awhile, then decided to just hang out at the gate waiting for something to happen. Because a watched gate always produces a plane...

They posted the flight for a 2 PM departure, but at 1:30 still no aircraft, so I figured no way we're leaving even at 2. A loaded 747, able to board in 1/2 hour? Amazingly enough, the plane arrived soon after, we shuffled onboard, and pulled away from the gate not much past 2. Getting from the gate to the taxiway was another issue. Seems the tug which pushes the plane couldn't get good traction with the tarmac, and the wheels kept slipping. So we rocked back and forth for what seemed like 15 minutes until the tug operator figured out how to avoid the slippery spot on the tarmac, and we were on our way to runway 32L. I've read that is the longest runway at O'Hare, and is the only one long enough for a fully loaded 747 to take off safely. We received takeoff clearance (I just love United for providing air traffic control tower communications over the headsets), then proceeded to sit on the runway. By the time our takeoff clearance was revoked, I heard that the winds had shifted such that it was no longer safe for us to takeoff. Sometimes I learn things listening to tower communications that I really don't want to know.

Once in the air safely, we headed due north. Our flight path took us over Green Bay, through Canada, close to the North Pole, down through Russia, China and finally into Hong Kong. Surprisingly enough, I couldn't sleep for much of the flight - 3-4 hours at most. I watched three movies, worked on the computer (personal stuff, composing email, etc.), and ate two lunches. First we ate early in the flight, then again about 2 hours before landing. Most people 'up front' put themselves on Hong Kong time right when we left, so they went to sleep soon after eating to get as close to HK schedule as possible. I just couldn't sleep at that point. At times it seemed the flight would never end, but of course it did, and I stepped off the plane into Wonderland.
- posted by LyleDeck @ 5:00 PM