This is my last day in South East Asia. My trip started on September 5th and it’s ending today, December 24th. It happened so quickly that I haven’t had the time to reflect on the trip yet but I’ll eventually have a reflection post once I get re-acclimated to the States. It’s been a wonderful experience and something I won’t forget. So much has come out of it but that will be for another post.
Our flight wasn’t until 7:40 pm and our check out time was 4:00 pm so we had some time in the morning and afternoon to do some last minute exploring and shopping. We didn’t get a chance to check out the Mcdonald’s concept store so we headed there for breakfast instead of eating from the executive lounge.
We jumped into the free shuttle and took the MTR to Admiralty Station where the Mcdonalds is located. It’s a large location directly outside of the subway station. The first thing you notice when going inside is how large and modern it is. To the left, there are many kiosks where you can order food and drinks. To the right, you can see a McCafe and a large open seating area.
It was a cool experience. They had the typical McDonald food items but they also had unique ones here too. We had to try the pasta noodle soup with pork. It was surprisingly good especially on a cold day like today.
After Mcdonalds, we headed over to the Harbour City mall at Tsim Sha Tsui exit. I think this is considered the largest mall in Hong Kong. When we got there, we couldn’t tell how big it was until we went inside. This mall seemed endless boasting over 700+ different stores. We only had a couple hours here because we wanted to go back to the K11 mall we were at yesterday since Jason had some items he wanted to pick up.
We barely touched the surface of the Harbour City mall before we had to leave. It was a bit overwhelming because of the immensity of the place. Bangkok has some incredibly large malls but this one seemed like an endless maze with stores lining the walkways as far as we could see. It would probably take a good two full days to fully explore everything.
After Harbour, we walked over to the K11 mall. It was only a 15-minute walk over. We went to the Zixag store and we both picked up some items. It’s a really cool store that sources unique products focused on travel. There were a lot of products that got my gears turning for StationGeek. I purchased a duffle bag that folds into a small bundle. With that, my foldable backpack from Victorinox, and my foldable fanny pack, I had an entire portable
We didn’t have much time at K11 so we just went to Zixag and the Baekmidang coffee and dessert shop that we went to yesterday. The milk bread and custard item they had was so good that we had to have it again. We also tried their regular milk bread but it wasn’t as good. It was time to head back to pack up and check out of our hotel so that we could head to the airport.
We went back to the hotel, packed up, and headed down to catch the shuttle to the airport. It was nice having the hotel so close to the airport. It took us only 5 minutes to get to get there. We had to wait about 15 minutes before we were able to get our tickets since we came so early. It was a quick process. We wanted as much time at the airport as possible because Jason has access to the first class lounge. This would be my first time checking it out and I would have to say it’s a ridiculous experience.
We used the Cathay Pacific First class lounge and I’d have to say it’s unreal. There are multiple spots you can go to for different purposes. There was a wine lounge area, a mixed drink area, and a library section for hanging out. The further you go on the left side there is a shower area and a place to take a nap. You pass that area and you reach a dining room that had a full food bar AND a menu you could order food from. This isn’t your typical fast food either. It felt like a 5-star restaurant with unlimited food and drinks. People in first-class live a completely different life, but if you’re paying 10k-30k for your flight, this experience is probably the least I would expect.
After stuffing our faces, we headed out to another area where there were two baristas ready at your beck and call to whip you up a fancy latte or cappuccino and a second food bar if you weren’t stuffed to the brim already. To the other side of the gourmet coffee stand, lived the business class fliers. It still looked swanky, but nothing compared to first class.
We grabbed a latte and powered up our computers. We eventually moved over to the mixed drink area and got a couple of glasses sparkling white wine before boarding since we were hoping to sleep the entire flight. We stayed in the lounge area until 6:40 pm and then walked down to board our plane. We both flew business class thanks to Jason’s upgrade. My flying experience will never be the same again after flying business.
We got settled into our seats and prepared for takeoff. I ordered a mimosa thinking it would be a nice finish to my two cups of sparkling white wine but instead I got a pounding headache. I thought I’d be able to get some great sleep with my padded and fully reclining seat but there were other plans waiting for me.
I ended up watching the Ant-Man and the Wasp, Alpha, and parts of Fantastic Beasts before I could even get sleepy enough to get to try to sleep. Even when I did get ready for bed, I was tossing and turning because of my headache. I was in and out of sleep until breakfast came and we were only 2 hours away from landing.
We landed and were officially back in Los Angeles! It was now 3:40 pm and still December 24th since Hong Kong is 14 hours ahead of California. I’ was excited to be back and ready to head to my parents for Christmas. We both booked our Ubers, said our goodbyes and were off to our respective places. There was no traffic since it was Christmas eve so I got to my parents in about 35 minutes from the LAX airport. I was nice to be back! I settled in and immediately fell asleep not waking up until Christmas morning.
