Touchdown...
alright... so, i was a bit worried about my plane and all, thanks to my smart agent to schedule all my flights about 90 minutes apart, all four flights... so, i flight to Hong Kong was delayed by 15 minutes. This resulted to my having less time to make my connecting flight, luckily, they are Cathay Pacific ground crew waiting for us, and took care of our tickets and all at a special counter. The safety screening was pretty tight in HK, where our carry-on baggage went through an x-ray, then, a pat-down body search by an officer, then, another thorough bag search by another officer. By the time I was through, it was already 20 minutes into the boarding time, and there was a long line for boarding.
So, I actually boarded the plane like 10 minutes before initial departure time. However, due to some problems with seatings and all, another 15 minutes delay occured, big deal. But because of the long flights, a 14-hour flight, we managed to gain those 15 minutes back. Reached Los Angeles at about 10.40pm, by the time I was through immigration checking and collected my luggages, and then re-check-in my luggages for domestic flights, it was about 11pm. My next flight was departing in an hour. So, I started a long jog from terminal 1 to terminal 7 (for those who are familiar with LAX, it was like a decent 5 minutes jog). Then, at the terminal, I went to the counter to get by boarding pass and also to confirm that my luggages will be sent automatically to my final destination, Detroit Wayne County (DTW) airport, and I was told twice, that YES, they will be sent there automatically. OK, cool, I thought. (I was worried because the MAS told me that the luggages were only checked til Chicago, but also, MAS told me a lot of things, which were absolutely WRONG, and heck, I was gonna let it off easy, but well, I was pissed at them, and hence, the following paragraph(s) is(are) dedicated to MAS.
I was surprised how MAS can have the best crew in airline services, probably just the in cabin crew, because the ground crew was far from good. First at check in, I was early, and hence, there wasn't a line, so, I was first in 'line' for check-in. There were 3 open counters, one with 2 ladies chatting, another counter with one guy checking on his cellphone, and a third one, was far from me, and hence, I took it that he didn't see me. So, I waited awhile, and then, decided to walk to the counter rightaway since it was open, there, I waited for another good half a minute until the guy managed to divert his attention from his cellphone to me. I wondered if I should apologize to him for disturbing him from his slacking off from his job.
OK fine, I don't want to be called a bad customer. So, I greeted him, and all, and I showed him my ticket, and then,
He: Do you know about about the new travelling regulations?
Me: Yeah, no liquids and all that.
And so, I check-in my luggages, as I was carrying a laptop bag, he noticed it and asked.
He: Do you know that you can't bring electronics on board for flights in the States?
Me: Really? That's news to me. Are u sure, according to the websites of TSA and United Airlines, electronics are allowed. Isn't that only the case for travellers flying into UK or from UK flying to US?
He: I'm not sure. (woah, if you are not sure, why did u make the first statement about electronics not able to carry on board?) But, if anything happened, MAS will not be responsible for that. (hold on mister, aren't u supposed to check it out for me? oh yar, Cathay Pacific, maybe you want to check with ur partners and make sure they know their stuffs... I paid Cathay Pacific price for Cathay Pacific service, or at least that standard of service... :))
Me: I'm pretty sure about that, I'm keeping my laptop with me, you know how they handle check-in luggage.
He: OK. Here's ur ticket to HK, for other tickets, you have to get it at HK from Cathay Pacific. And I have ur luggages checked til Chicago.
Me: Thanks. (for nothing but more trouble)
OK, back to where I was, after getting my ticket to Chicago, I went through another scanning, pretty quick actually, just the same procedure, with the taking off shoes, which was the same if i remembered correctly, then, it was 11:35 when I reached the gate and boarded the plane, 4 other dudes which were supposed to take the same flight (if i counted correctly missed it because they were held back at LAX immigration office).
On the flight, I met a guy from Taiwan, heading to UPenn for Masters in engineering, we chatted a bit and that's about it. I couldn't sleep (as usual, I could never sleep much on plane, bus and train).
So, the flight to Chicago was great. I reached there 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. Awesome. I texted home to get my dad to call me, (it's cheaper that way and I don't have IDD through my cell, wonder why), chatted with my parents for about 10 minutes, then, I waited in line for a cup of tea, as it was still a 80 minutes wait for me. After getting my tea, I started on some sudoku puzzles. On the flight, I worked on 2 other sudoku puzzles, and after that, we were almost arriving at Detroit. (it was a really short flight from Chicago to Detroit, about an hour.)
There, I waited for my luggage but to no avail, crap, I knew it, those confirmations and reassurance, wth. So, I went to the lost luggage counter and filed a report, and the guy there told me that I should expect my luggage to be sent to me either tonight or today late night. So, well, what can I do. I called up my friend, Ren Jie to pick me up from the airport. Thanks a lot!!!
As I need some stuffs to settle down, we went to the storage to get some stuffs. Then, he dropped me at my dorm, Couzens, I waited for about an hour as the office hours for holiday was retarded, from 12noon til 6pm. So, I settled down, and all, changed into shorts, the weather was great, but a bit warmer than my liking. After that, at first, I went to the newly renovated academic advising office, then, I went to grab my lunch at the Union, Wendy's, then, went to the library and met my friends, and then, went to Ren Jie's place, and then, went to visit Joe, Doug and Alicia at their place. Hung out until 9pm, and I was soooo tired, but still, I couldn't sleep because I was waiting for my luggages. Then, at about half past 11, my luggages finally came. I unpacked a bit, and went to bed at about midnight.
So, Wednesday, my International Orientation Academic Peer Advisor training, where I met 4 other peer advisors, and also academic advisors on the international committee. The training was great, where we learned more about all the requirements and also the purpose of the liberal arts education. Thursday, another long day of training, where we also did a slide presentation to teach students about backpacking classes and also registering for classes.
On Friday, we presented our slides to the advisors, and then, in the afternoon, we attended the parents orientation to answer their questions and all. Viktorina came and visited us!!! Thanks Viktorina! After that, i went to my friends(Alex, Doug and Joe) place, from now on, known as the Rock, and we went all gung ho putting their IKEA furnitures together. Fun!
On Saturday, I demonstrated how to search, backpack and register for classes... and then, I had all the time to my own. Went to bestbuy with Vince - my neighbor, also my friend, also my co-worker at Markley (what coincidence) as he needed to get a gift for his (actually mine too) friend. After that, I just did nothing but surfing the Internet, and also stumble around using StumbleUpon, and then, also sudokus. At night, I had bubble tea smoothies and popcorn chicken for dinner... not too bad, then, went to the Rock where we played, they actually, Guitar Hero, and then, also Fight Night... that's about it.
So, how fun to be back in Ann Arbor? Very fun. No drinking so far... but will be very soon.
So, I actually boarded the plane like 10 minutes before initial departure time. However, due to some problems with seatings and all, another 15 minutes delay occured, big deal. But because of the long flights, a 14-hour flight, we managed to gain those 15 minutes back. Reached Los Angeles at about 10.40pm, by the time I was through immigration checking and collected my luggages, and then re-check-in my luggages for domestic flights, it was about 11pm. My next flight was departing in an hour. So, I started a long jog from terminal 1 to terminal 7 (for those who are familiar with LAX, it was like a decent 5 minutes jog). Then, at the terminal, I went to the counter to get by boarding pass and also to confirm that my luggages will be sent automatically to my final destination, Detroit Wayne County (DTW) airport, and I was told twice, that YES, they will be sent there automatically. OK, cool, I thought. (I was worried because the MAS told me that the luggages were only checked til Chicago, but also, MAS told me a lot of things, which were absolutely WRONG, and heck, I was gonna let it off easy, but well, I was pissed at them, and hence, the following paragraph(s) is(are) dedicated to MAS.
I was surprised how MAS can have the best crew in airline services, probably just the in cabin crew, because the ground crew was far from good. First at check in, I was early, and hence, there wasn't a line, so, I was first in 'line' for check-in. There were 3 open counters, one with 2 ladies chatting, another counter with one guy checking on his cellphone, and a third one, was far from me, and hence, I took it that he didn't see me. So, I waited awhile, and then, decided to walk to the counter rightaway since it was open, there, I waited for another good half a minute until the guy managed to divert his attention from his cellphone to me. I wondered if I should apologize to him for disturbing him from his slacking off from his job.
OK fine, I don't want to be called a bad customer. So, I greeted him, and all, and I showed him my ticket, and then,
He: Do you know about about the new travelling regulations?
Me: Yeah, no liquids and all that.
And so, I check-in my luggages, as I was carrying a laptop bag, he noticed it and asked.
He: Do you know that you can't bring electronics on board for flights in the States?
Me: Really? That's news to me. Are u sure, according to the websites of TSA and United Airlines, electronics are allowed. Isn't that only the case for travellers flying into UK or from UK flying to US?
He: I'm not sure. (woah, if you are not sure, why did u make the first statement about electronics not able to carry on board?) But, if anything happened, MAS will not be responsible for that. (hold on mister, aren't u supposed to check it out for me? oh yar, Cathay Pacific, maybe you want to check with ur partners and make sure they know their stuffs... I paid Cathay Pacific price for Cathay Pacific service, or at least that standard of service... :))
Me: I'm pretty sure about that, I'm keeping my laptop with me, you know how they handle check-in luggage.
He: OK. Here's ur ticket to HK, for other tickets, you have to get it at HK from Cathay Pacific. And I have ur luggages checked til Chicago.
Me: Thanks. (for nothing but more trouble)
OK, back to where I was, after getting my ticket to Chicago, I went through another scanning, pretty quick actually, just the same procedure, with the taking off shoes, which was the same if i remembered correctly, then, it was 11:35 when I reached the gate and boarded the plane, 4 other dudes which were supposed to take the same flight (if i counted correctly missed it because they were held back at LAX immigration office).
On the flight, I met a guy from Taiwan, heading to UPenn for Masters in engineering, we chatted a bit and that's about it. I couldn't sleep (as usual, I could never sleep much on plane, bus and train).
So, the flight to Chicago was great. I reached there 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. Awesome. I texted home to get my dad to call me, (it's cheaper that way and I don't have IDD through my cell, wonder why), chatted with my parents for about 10 minutes, then, I waited in line for a cup of tea, as it was still a 80 minutes wait for me. After getting my tea, I started on some sudoku puzzles. On the flight, I worked on 2 other sudoku puzzles, and after that, we were almost arriving at Detroit. (it was a really short flight from Chicago to Detroit, about an hour.)
There, I waited for my luggage but to no avail, crap, I knew it, those confirmations and reassurance, wth. So, I went to the lost luggage counter and filed a report, and the guy there told me that I should expect my luggage to be sent to me either tonight or today late night. So, well, what can I do. I called up my friend, Ren Jie to pick me up from the airport. Thanks a lot!!!
As I need some stuffs to settle down, we went to the storage to get some stuffs. Then, he dropped me at my dorm, Couzens, I waited for about an hour as the office hours for holiday was retarded, from 12noon til 6pm. So, I settled down, and all, changed into shorts, the weather was great, but a bit warmer than my liking. After that, at first, I went to the newly renovated academic advising office, then, I went to grab my lunch at the Union, Wendy's, then, went to the library and met my friends, and then, went to Ren Jie's place, and then, went to visit Joe, Doug and Alicia at their place. Hung out until 9pm, and I was soooo tired, but still, I couldn't sleep because I was waiting for my luggages. Then, at about half past 11, my luggages finally came. I unpacked a bit, and went to bed at about midnight.
So, Wednesday, my International Orientation Academic Peer Advisor training, where I met 4 other peer advisors, and also academic advisors on the international committee. The training was great, where we learned more about all the requirements and also the purpose of the liberal arts education. Thursday, another long day of training, where we also did a slide presentation to teach students about backpacking classes and also registering for classes.
On Friday, we presented our slides to the advisors, and then, in the afternoon, we attended the parents orientation to answer their questions and all. Viktorina came and visited us!!! Thanks Viktorina! After that, i went to my friends(Alex, Doug and Joe) place, from now on, known as the Rock, and we went all gung ho putting their IKEA furnitures together. Fun!
On Saturday, I demonstrated how to search, backpack and register for classes... and then, I had all the time to my own. Went to bestbuy with Vince - my neighbor, also my friend, also my co-worker at Markley (what coincidence) as he needed to get a gift for his (actually mine too) friend. After that, I just did nothing but surfing the Internet, and also stumble around using StumbleUpon, and then, also sudokus. At night, I had bubble tea smoothies and popcorn chicken for dinner... not too bad, then, went to the Rock where we played, they actually, Guitar Hero, and then, also Fight Night... that's about it.
So, how fun to be back in Ann Arbor? Very fun. No drinking so far... but will be very soon.