Quite a trip

                                 Us with our 10 bags and 4 book bags ready to leave STL

I have been pretty lucky in my life to not have experienced many issues with air travel.  Unfortunately, we had several issues on our trip to Hong Kong.  We had several delays on our flight out of St. Louis, including both a weather delay and a mechanical delay because the incoming plane hit a bird (always comforting to know the plane you are about to get on has a mechanical issue).  The kids were great, although Tommy did mention that waiting for 5 hours in the airport wasn't a lot of fun and wasn't quite what he had pictured.  He spent the entire flight to Chicago looking out the window and asking questions.

                                                              Tom and Charlotte

                                         Tommy checking out the safety pamphlet with Mommy

We ended up missing our flight to Hong Kong and had to spend the night in Chicago.  We thought it would be nice to relax in Chicago, sleep in, and start the day with 1 less flight to take.  It wasn't as restful as we had envisioned when all the hotels near the airport were booked and after hours and hours of waiting and confusion, we finally got to our hotel after midnight.  Tommy was excited because it was the latest he had ever gotten to stay up.  The flight to Hong Kong went really well.  The plane was about 45 minutes late, but when you have a 16 hour flight, you barely notice it.  The kids did so well on the plane.  They loved being about to watch movies, all the food and snacks, and Tommy really enjoyed watching the map of where we were in the world.  They were awake the majority of the time, but each slept a decent amount.

                                           Enjoying our orange juice/champagne before takeoff.

When we got on the plane, one of the stewards with a clipboard had asked us 3 times how many bags we checked.  He seemed perplexed.  When we arrived in HK, we were relieved to see several of our bags come out at the beginning.  Unfortunately, one of our bags didn't make it (we checked 8, so 7 out of 8 isn't horrible).  With the plane delay and stop to report our missing bag, we didn't end up getting to the hotel until after 12:30 AM (It was 11:30 AM in St. Louis and the kids were wired).  Tommy and Charlotte had fun looking at the different sights and admiring their new city. 

                 Tommy and Charlotte enjoying the view from our hotel room on the 29th floor.