I am finally on my journey to Thailand and Cambodia! It's pretty crazy to think that 24 hours ago I went for a run to Olympus and now here I am in China... which in and of itself is a miracle. Getting here was a million times harder than it ever should have been. I got to the airport early, ready for my flight to LAX, Hong Kong and then on to Bangkok. I got all checked in and through security and was sitting at my gate waiting to board when they announced my flight had been delayed. The lady told us to go back down to the check in counter and they would either get us on a later flight or put us on a different airline. Fortunately, there weren't that many people yet so we made our way back down to the counter where I was the fourth person in line. Each person was taking 20-30 minutes to reroute and they only had one person working at the desk. My connecting flight was leaving in just 4 hours from LAX so I was obviously getting nervous. Finally I got up to the desk and the lady sat there forever looking through flights. The only thing she could find got to LAX at 12:30 and my flight left at 12:55. She didn't think that would be enough time so she kept looking. I heard the guy next to me get on a flight leaving at 11:15 to San Francisco so I asked if I could get on that flight and sure enough there was a flight out to Hong Kong at 1:35 just an hour later than my original flight. So she put me on that one and I had to reclaim my bag, check in with another airline, and go through security again. I flew to San Fran without major incident but once I got there the panic set in. All I had from Salt Lake was a receipt, no boarding pass, so I had no idea where my gate was or what my flight number was. There had been some confusion in the very beginning about what airline I was on because I was booked on Cathay Pacific but it is run by American Airlines. Anyway, when I asked one of the TSA girls for help she told me to go and talk to American even though I thought I should check in with Cathay Pacific. So she directed me up to the sky train and told me to get off at the terminal with American Airlines. I look at the map and Cathay Pacific isn't even on the map. So I get on the sky train not having any idea where to get off, there are 2 international terminals and then American was in a domestic terminal. So, I get on and this train starts going super far away from the airport, to garages and rental car places and I am starting to freak out. I have less than an hour to get back to the airport, figure out the airline, check in, get through security and get on my flight. Finally, I get back to the international terminal and decide to just go for it. I walk in and the third desk I see is Cathay Pacific! I was so relieved. But then the girl at the desk is confused by the receipt and the baggage stickers I had and it was taking forever! Finally, I get my boarding pass, go through security yet again and get on my flight to Hong Kong. The flight was relatively uneventful, it was 13 hours and I only got really uncomfortable in the last couple of hours or so. I am now sitting in Hong Kong waiting to board my flight to Bangkok, hoping that my bags made it there and that I will be able to find Elle!
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