It was last year when I had my first travel out of the country. For some of the first timers like me; Hong Kong is always on top of the list.
Since it was my first time, I wouldn’t travel alone of course so I dragged along hubby with me. Hubby’s first time too. Hope he won’t read this post and I spilled one of his secrets (hehe). Anyways, he is not a reader so most of my blog posts he have read and liked in FB were due to force haha. Actually friend Mai was going there also but her flight was ahead of us.
Excited and anxious being a first timer, I almost can’t sleep days before the flight. I was not an internet fan that time so friends and officemates who have been there were my research came from. One of the dos and don’ts: don’t forget to bring pens with you. They were right. I have used it inside the plane to fill up a small sheet of paper to be submitted at the immigration. Imagine if I haven’t brought any, I would either wait and borrow from a stranger inside the plane or ask from someone (might be a foreigner) along the long queue at the immigration counter in HKG airport and didn’t know if he/she can speak English.
We landed on HKG airport Friday night and a little late due to some flight delays. I was the one who first got off the plane (I thought hubby was behind me) and so I waited for him near the plane doors. But I guessed everyone got off already except him so I entered inside the plane again. I found him still in our seats and was looking for his reading glasses. I said that he should asked because I placed it inside my hand carry bag a while ago (haaay..). Now here was the dilemma. Since it was our first time, I was planning to follow our co-passengers to our next stop inside the HKG airport. But it wasn’t possible since everybody has left us already because of that d**n eyeglasses. I never thought that HKG airport is really that huge. We just walked where most of the people were heading.
But that was a long walk and anxiety starting to engulfed me. I began to ask hubby to where we are going to claim our luggage. He was not in good mood as if a little sparks will lead us into an argument. We halted on a place where people were scattered, going to different directions. I saw a signage “baggage reclaim” and we followed the direction. We took the escalator going down and voila! There’s a train inside the airport? I refused to ride that train. That was the time I think we were lost. I picked up my mobile phone to call friend Mai which I think arrived there more than four hours ahead of us. Though I set the roaming of my phone a day before the flight, I can’t call Mai (d**n!). We took the escalator again going up and were looking for someone to ask for the right direction. It was a failure. Most of them can’t speak/understand English or we were the ones who can’t comprehend (haha). And our last option was..to ride the train.
We got off the train and then there I saw the baggage claiming area (at last!). It is located at the back of immigration counters.
And this is my first solo picture in HKG. Now I can smile with our luggage beside me. We are allowed to bring only 15kg each or 30kg combined. Our luggage is only 15kg + 5kg allotted for “pasalubongs” and other things we will bring home from HKG (for 20kg capacity).
You may get maps inside the HKG airport. I almost forgot, it was Mai who reminded me and pointed the area where I could get those (tanga tanga talaga..hehe). I found MTR map very helpful. We also bought there the Octopus Card which can be used in MTR (counterpart of MRT/LRT in the Philippines), tram, bus and ferry.
I took this photo while we were thinking how to get to the hotel. I was fascinated with their bus which I only seen in movies before and now with my own eyes and lens. I’ve made sure that I never leave HKG without experiencing to ride on the top load of their bus.
It was late and MTR was already closed that time so we took a cab (afraid to get lost again) going to the hotel. But that cost us a lot, around 250 HKD as far as I remember. Another lesson learned: don’t book night or late night flights especially if you’re first time to travel a country or a place.
Till next time!
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