From Hong Kong To Tokyo

I woke at 530 AM on Wednesday to prepare for my flight to Tokyo. Getting to and from the airport in Hong Kong is a relatively simple, though time consuming affair. There was a free shuttle that runs every 30 minutes from my hotel to the central station. There are two stations between the central station, located in the heart of Hong Kong, and the airport - Kowloon, a territory just across the bay, and Tsing Yi, which I know nothing about. At each of these stations travelers can check in for their flights and check their luggage, which really streamlines the process and makes travel much more pleasant. After you are checked in, the attendants at Northwest place a large red sticker on you. I thought they were just trying to be friendly and self promote, or that maybe Chinese people like stickers, but apparently it serves some purpose, as they took it away from me as i was boarding the plane and admittedly, I was a little sad.

The train ride takes 26 minutes exactly from central station to the airport and little tvs show news and other programming during the ride; each seat has a headrest with individual volume controls. One of the program shorts included the ever popular mentos in the coke bottle demonstration, and advise on how to maximize the resulting geyser. In Sweden the train from the airport to downtown is similar, however they showed a video on how to maximize safety when using escalators and transporting luggage. I checked with my Swedish coworkers to see if this is really a safety issue warranting such promotion. They had no comment.

The Hong Kong airport is incredibly efficient at peak travel times with regards to passport control and security. I was hoping to make a decision and vote for the immigration official of the month however once again, I found it difficult to chose. I wonder if the results will be on the airport web site. The airport has lots of people mover conveyor belts as well to get travelers to their gates quickly.