Real-Life Amazing Race Prep

Everything that could go wrong...surprisingly went wrong.

Murphy's Law. We all know that feeling when you're eating a sandwich and you accidentally drop it--your mind puts everything in slow motion for 0.2 seconds and you hold your breath as you hope it falls bread-side down and not peanut-butter-and-jelly-side down. I know Murphy's Law quite well, or at least I thought I knew!

The night before the trip, I joined my friends Jack and Emily to go ice skating. Twenty minutes into skating (aka me attempting to skate haha), the employees realized the ice was mysteriously melting like never before and we had to abandon ship. That should have been a warning sign for what was to come the next day. After waking up from a measly two hours of sleep, Jack drove us to the Charlotte airport and everything went smoothly. Security didn't even make me toss out my unfinished water bottle. Our bags were checked, we were in our seats, and I was queuing up some Justin Bieber on Spotify for takeoff.

"All things are difficult before they are easy."

"Maintenance is looking into a mechanical issue, so there will be a 15 minute delay," the flight attendant announced. Okay, 15 minutes, no big deal. What should've been less than half an hour turned into two hours, meaning our next flight would take off before we even land in Dallas. They offered the option to get off of the plane, but all ten of us had to retrieve our bags in Dallas before making any other decisions. When we landed in Texas, we realized American Airlines had updated our travel itinerary, but unfortunately they had us arriving days later. This was problematic since our covid test results would no longer be valid, and the airline refused to pay the $400 we'd need to expedite the results before our Hong Kong flight left. We spent the next several hours in the baggage claim, putting our negotiation and business communication skills to practice. We spoke to dozens of different airline employees but none of them were able to offer a solution--or even nice customer service, for that matter. We were faced with a "lemme speak the manager" situation, which led to a literal Karen who uttered phrases like "you guys aren't gonna make that flight," "it'll take like four hours to get your bags off that plane," and, my favorite, "some of y'all are gonna get left behind." After enough nagging, we finally were in the clear! Shockingly, it was Karen who checked our bags to the next flight--BACK TO CHARLOTTE--and attempted to get us all on the next flight.

I felt like I was on The Amazing Race due to the flight delays, having to run in the airport, catch a train to the next terminal, make sure I didn't lose my passport and documents, and the adrenaline caused by all of the above. We (minus two of the guys, who had to take the next flight) made it back to Charlotte and flew to Toronto. I've never felt more pressured to have all my documents, passport, and bags ready to go. The brief moment of walking outside at Toronto, feeling the icy blast of fresh air and seeing pockets of snow on the ground, was wonderful. We went through customs and the kiosk took all of our pictures without any warning, and they all ended up looking like black and white mugshots of criminals thanks to our tired expressions and confused looks (should we lower our masks for the picture or keep them on??)

The flight from Canada to Hong Kong was over 16 hours, and the route itself was so cool since we got to fly over the North Pole!! Instead of chasing the sun like our previous itinerary had us, we ended up flying in darkness the majority of the journey. Not eating a proper meal all day had me feeling soooo nauseous for most of the flight, but I finally was able to eat some breakfast and snacks. I barely ate the dinner they served (okay highkey the ice cream was really good tho). After starting two movies and only getting ten minutes in, I realized it was time to finally catch up on some much-needed sleep. Much easier said than done btw!

"Prepare for descent" were some of the happiest words I heard through the free airplane headphones. OMG I'M OFFICIALLY IN HONG KONG WHAT THE HECK!!!! That thought actually registered in my mind two times: it hit on the plane when I woke up from a 30-min nap (which sadly felt like several hours) and I realized I was stuck on a plane for 13 more hours, and a second time when we were walking through the airport to get through security, covid test, customs, etc.

After getting through all the lines and showing all our documents (seriously tho, they practically ask for everything but your left kidney haha), I made the comment that it was efficient as a Chic Fil A drive-through line (if you know you know!). The sign said no pictures which was a little sad because we sat and waited for our test results next to a giant window, watching the sun rise and peek its way over the panoramic view of the mountains with skyscrapers above the distant harbor.

Like The Amazing Race, after each long day we get to rest. Saying goodbye to both my friends and the outdoors, I made my way down the hall to my hotel room, where I will be spending 21 days quarantining alone (not leaving the room for any reason).

In the words of Phil from The Amazing Race, "the world is waiting for you...travel safe...go!"