The Misadventures of Teale

This trip did NOT get off to a good start. Considering the circumstances - I needed to pack my entire apartment, decide what to bring and what to leave behind (and where to leave it), and run all of my pre-trip errands while still working full-time and saying goodbye to all of my friends - I suppose it was pretty obvious that not EVERYTHING could go smoothly, but I can always hope, right?

Sure, but apparently, it does little to no good. I managed to get everything taken care of, and Friday night (my flight out of DC was at 10:00 AM Saturday morning), after one last dinner with friends, I headed to the ATM to get some cash to travel with, looking forward to a full night's sleep before the trip. Alas, such was not to be - instead, I got to the ATM, pulled out my wallet, and discovered there was no ATM card to be found! Anyone who travels knows that a missing ATM card is a pretty big deal - there's something slightly unsettling about the idea of leaving the country without having access to my bank account, especially considering how long I'll be out of the country.

But I calmed myself down, and figured I'd just left it at home - after all, I'd changed purses that afternoon. But once I'd made it back to my clean/packed apartment, searched my other purse, clothes I'd been wearing the previous day, and anywhere else I could think of, panic started to set in. "Okay," I thought, "I'll just have to bite the bullet and order a new card."

I won't waste your time with the agonies involved in that - three hours and tons of phone calls later, I had the promise of a card being delivered to my Hong Kong residence on Tuesday, and another replacement being shipped to my secretary in DC, who could then use our inter-office "pouch" delivery system to get it over to me. My hero Ken Moon walked like a mile and a half at 12:30 at night to loan me some cash, to tide me over until one or the other card is delivered, and all was right with the world. I was ready to start my trip!

Of course, the transit wasn't great either - a two-hour delay due to a "conflict over Russian airspace" (coolest reason for a delay I've ever gotten!), and a kicking three-year-old and his airsick mother sitting behind me on the plane - but after my return trip from Nepal, which took 47 hours and included nine hours sitting on the tarmac in New York with nothing to eat but Worcestershire-flavored pretzels, other travel agonies have definitely been put into perspective. And finally, I arrived in Hong Kong! My driver was waiting outside of customs, and my adventure was off and running.