Indochine Feb 6

Our plane left NY about an hour and a half late (10:45 instead of 9:15). We were all boarded and ready to go at the scheduled departure time so I'm not sure what the hold up was. They never announced a reason. It was snowing and they sprayed the plane with de-icer. That took a few minutes. And there were 20 planes ahead of us in line to get off. That took some time too. Anyway, I am glad we are now off the ground and on our way. Most of the people on the plane are Chinese. The guy next to me is headed for mainland China to a town I didn't recognize the name of. He is fidgeting with something pretty much all the time. He has asked me for the time about 4 or 5 times and then he really surprised me by asking whether we were flying direct to Hong Kong. Most people would know that before they got on the plane. On top of that the screen in front of us has shown our route with a little tiny plane progressing over a map all the way from NYC to HK about 30 times before he asked. Apparently satisfied with my answer, he has taken his shoes and socks off and is now barefoot.

The flight is 14 hours. That is a fair junk of time. I think I miscalculated where I will be when the Superbowl is played. I won't be on a plane. I will be in Hanoi. I imagine I can find a place to watch the game there. There won't be American style chicken wings to eat while viewing but there might be plenty of beer. They are big beer fans in Vietnam. And instead of chicken wings they might have those little itsy, bitsy whole birds that are about as big as your thumb. You pull the head off and then eat everything else. I know that sounds gross but they are actually pretty good. they are stuffed with something.

Time to hunker down. I am not a good plane sleeper, but occasionally, if I find the right position, I can dose off. Wouldn't it be great if I were to doze off and find myself in Hong Kong? I wish.

My guess is that everyone back in the DC area will have a hard time getting out. The problem is generally not the resumption of airport operations and flights. It's the fact that flights after a shutdown are often full and the next available seat can be 3 or 4 days out. We will find out soon enough.

Good luck to everyone back home battling the effects of the storm!

Posted via email from Bob's posterous