In a very literal and technical sense, yesterday was the longest day of my life. The cool thing about flying over the north pole in the summer is that we were able to elude darkness for over 27 hours. Here's a shot from latitude 90° 00′ 00″ N at about 1:15AM EST (there is no time zone in the north pole). No signs of my lady Ms. Claus, just complete frozen, barren, nothingness for hundreds of miles.
After being convinced to put down my book by Steve to watch Hall Pass, which he claimed to be "funnier than the Hangover" (not even close), I got my only 20 minutes of sleep in over 36 hours.
The SEA Trip dynamic is strong. The only misstep so far was Steve L asking the 4’8’’, no more than 80 pounds, no less than 80 years old, reticent Asian woman who was sitting between me and Jeff to switch seats with him (she obliged without saying a word). The remainder of the 16 hour flight in row 43 involved that unspoken game that all strangers play with each other by silently edging their elbows back and forth on the shared armrest until an armistice is made. In the 9th hour of combat Steve finally took his first bathroom break (how is that even possible?) and I took a stronghold. A few hours later, Steve regained his commanding position, as his unfairly genetically advanced elbows are painfully pointy and I had no answer. I yearned for my newfound 4’8’’, asian grandmother until I finally found solace in Continental's awesome in-flight entertainment center by watching Black Swan and Unstoppable.
Finally 23 hours and five movies later our journey from my house to Hong Kong was complete as we arrived at Carritas Bianchi Lodge in downtown Hong Kong, over 8000 miles away from home.
Of course when we woke up a few hours ago we saw that monsoon season seemed to have begun a few months early. Hopefully this isn't a sign for the weeks to come. Off to a Dim Sum brunch now.
Nice use of GMAT words
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