Torture

I should have known better - everything was going so smoothly.  Got to STL airport at 8:00 am (Saturday morning) and checked in right away.  No lines, no waiting, no hassle.  Left on time and arrived in Detroit.  No problem.  Changed planes and landed in Hong Kong on time (7:15 pm on Sunday - remember they are 12 hours ahead of us).  My plane was supposed to leave at 10:00 pm, so I ate some dinner and checked my email in the airport.  Hong Kong Airlines even gave me a free food voucher.  Very nice. 

Then it started to go downhill, pretty fast.  The flight to Hanoi was delayed, so the new departure was supposed to be 12:25 am.  Some students were supposed to pick me up at 11:05 pm, so I emailed my contacts in Hanoi and told them I would be running late.  Fortunately somebody was online.  Later, the airlines said we won't be leaving until 3:00 am.  I was able to get some sleep on the plane, but not too much.  No shops were open in the airport at this time of night (morning) and I was getting kind of hungry.  Just about the time my system started to crash, the gate attendant invited all the passengers to the lounge to get some free food and drink.  What a blessing.

We finally left HK at 4:00 am.  My luck started to change for the better.  For some unknown reason, they upgraded my status to first class on the last leg of the journey.  Don't ask me why, clueless.  Anyway, I did not argue with them.  So, I got more food and drink, so I was feeling pretty good by now.  Plus, the female flight attendants were much better looking than those on Delta.    

Arrived in Hanoi on Monday morning at 5:30 am, just before sunrise.  The student waited in the airport for 6 hours!  Poor guy.  I'm not sure who felt worse - me or him.  He took me straight to the hotel.  Earliest I have ever checked into a hotel.  I had been awake for about 30 hrs. so I took a shower and went to bed.