It has been a hectic and exciting week -- apologies for the lack of blog posts!
Monday feels so far away that I cannot believe it occurred in the same week as this Wednesday, which occurred in the same week as this Saturday. To make the week feel even longer, we miraculously "gained" 12-13 hours of time when we departed Hong Kong and arrived in Chicago. It's hard to believe that the fourth of July was only five days ago.
To recap all that has occurred in these past five days:
I left for Ho Chi Minh on Tuesday afternoon for all day meetings there on Wednesday, then returned to Hong Kong late Wednesday night on the last flight out. Upon return, Michael and I finished packing for our trip to the U.S.
I went in to work early Thursday morning to take care of some final work issues and to hand over some last minute deals, before I left for the airport. A driver picked me up from the office at 10 am, we raced to pick up Michael and our bags at the apartment, and then pulled up to the Hong Kong airport -- which I had only left less than 12 hours before. Eeep.
Our flight to Chicago left without delay. I managed to turn a full draft of a document for work, watch The Lobster, sleep a little, finish Joy, watch Zootopia, eat two full meals, and also watch "It's Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong." That is a long trip! Turns out you can get a lot done in nearly 15 hours.
I liked all of the movies except the last, where there was no chemistry between the two characters and the dialogue and interactions were so unbelievably stilted. However, it was fun to see all of the watering spots of Hong Kong that have now become so familiar to me.
When we finally landed in Chicago, we immediately picked up our bags from baggage check and proceeded to check in for the next leg of our trip, a domestic flight from Chicago to Cleveland, which then meant we had to go through security checks again. Having read about some of the recent TSA pre-check and security check line nightmares, I was a little nervous about whether we would make our next flight. But it was fine -- we got sniffed by some huge K-9 dogs, shuffled through a line, then another line, then one more line, and then we were at our gate. Not the efficiency we are used to in Hong Kong, but it could have been so much worse!
After arriving in Cleveland, we went straight to the car rental agency, picked up our car, then headed from the airport directly to the rehearsal dinner, where we caught up with all members of the family over dinner and drinks. By the time we headed to our hotel after the dinner, we had been in transit for nearly 26 hours.
After we checked in, I had to get on a call and send out the draft document that I was turning from my Vietnamese meetings. I didn't go to bed until just after midnight, and I think it's fair to say that at that point I was running on fumes.
Despite how tired I was, though, it took me a while to fall asleep. Unfortunately, likely due to the hectic pace of work and stress of the past few days, my brain has really not been able to shut off. To make matters worse, just three and a half hours later, I woke up and could not go back to sleep. Hopefully now that we are finally in the U.S., surrounded by family and friends, I can relax and stop feeling so tightly wound!
On Friday, we ran errands and went to appointments, then, after a much needed nap, went to Michael's younger brother's apartment at night, where he graciously hosted a pre-wedding party. He lives near the city, so with the Indians playing, we were also treated to the post-game fireworks when we left.
Finally, my parents and sister are arriving today. I am so excited to see everyone and to have a great time this weekend!
Monday feels so far away that I cannot believe it occurred in the same week as this Wednesday, which occurred in the same week as this Saturday. To make the week feel even longer, we miraculously "gained" 12-13 hours of time when we departed Hong Kong and arrived in Chicago. It's hard to believe that the fourth of July was only five days ago.
To recap all that has occurred in these past five days:
I left for Ho Chi Minh on Tuesday afternoon for all day meetings there on Wednesday, then returned to Hong Kong late Wednesday night on the last flight out. Upon return, Michael and I finished packing for our trip to the U.S.
I went in to work early Thursday morning to take care of some final work issues and to hand over some last minute deals, before I left for the airport. A driver picked me up from the office at 10 am, we raced to pick up Michael and our bags at the apartment, and then pulled up to the Hong Kong airport -- which I had only left less than 12 hours before. Eeep.
Our flight to Chicago left without delay. I managed to turn a full draft of a document for work, watch The Lobster, sleep a little, finish Joy, watch Zootopia, eat two full meals, and also watch "It's Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong." That is a long trip! Turns out you can get a lot done in nearly 15 hours.
I liked all of the movies except the last, where there was no chemistry between the two characters and the dialogue and interactions were so unbelievably stilted. However, it was fun to see all of the watering spots of Hong Kong that have now become so familiar to me.
When we finally landed in Chicago, we immediately picked up our bags from baggage check and proceeded to check in for the next leg of our trip, a domestic flight from Chicago to Cleveland, which then meant we had to go through security checks again. Having read about some of the recent TSA pre-check and security check line nightmares, I was a little nervous about whether we would make our next flight. But it was fine -- we got sniffed by some huge K-9 dogs, shuffled through a line, then another line, then one more line, and then we were at our gate. Not the efficiency we are used to in Hong Kong, but it could have been so much worse!
After arriving in Cleveland, we went straight to the car rental agency, picked up our car, then headed from the airport directly to the rehearsal dinner, where we caught up with all members of the family over dinner and drinks. By the time we headed to our hotel after the dinner, we had been in transit for nearly 26 hours.
After we checked in, I had to get on a call and send out the draft document that I was turning from my Vietnamese meetings. I didn't go to bed until just after midnight, and I think it's fair to say that at that point I was running on fumes.
Despite how tired I was, though, it took me a while to fall asleep. Unfortunately, likely due to the hectic pace of work and stress of the past few days, my brain has really not been able to shut off. To make matters worse, just three and a half hours later, I woke up and could not go back to sleep. Hopefully now that we are finally in the U.S., surrounded by family and friends, I can relax and stop feeling so tightly wound!
On Friday, we ran errands and went to appointments, then, after a much needed nap, went to Michael's younger brother's apartment at night, where he graciously hosted a pre-wedding party. He lives near the city, so with the Indians playing, we were also treated to the post-game fireworks when we left.
Finally, my parents and sister are arriving today. I am so excited to see everyone and to have a great time this weekend!
I agree that the dialogue in "It's already tomorrow in Hong Kong" was bad, but I though the two leads had a lot of chemistry (in fact, so much that I looked them up, and they are husband and wife I believe in real life). Go figure.
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