how to catch a flight to Hong Kong

I know I said I would start blogging about HK, but first I have to tell you about how hard it was to even leave America!
So after the ordeal of moving out last Sunday (guess how many boxes I used?) I came home to Acton, MA: to my cat Sweetie, who is really my dad's cat now; to sitting through languorously long rambling talks with my dad; to sitting through head-poundingly long rambling talks with my mom. It wouldn't be a Wu family reunion if we didn't harvest some 韭菜 and make dumplings. So we did.


Then, a wave of domestic bliss combined with filial guilt at having put my parents through the move-out crisis made me clean the house for several hours. I made the back porch/living room all spic as a span. I promptly fell asleep on the futon.

But here's the funny part. So I had a nagging suspicion that my flight to Hong Kong, which Mom had booked through a bootleg-sounding travel agency, had been scheduled for Monday morning. During the whirlwind of Commencement Week I had only opened the itinerary in my email once. From that one glance I thought I saw that it was booked for Monday.
But in all the conversations (yelling bouts, really) we'd had about me going to Hong Kong, Mom had kept saying Tuesday, Tuesday. I pride myself on my steel-trap memory...but because I wanted to keep decompressing for one more day and definitely was not packed and ready to leave yet...I ignored my better instincts and slept. A lot.
Conveniently enough my laptop and printer had been packed onto the car that Mom drove to work before I woke up, and I hadn't unpacked at all, so I didn't have a convenient way to check my email for a day. Around lunchtime Dad finally pressed me for the flight departure time so he would know when to drive me to the airport.

"But I don't have internet," I protested.
"Just use our desktop!" he snapped. Duh.

Then I faced the music. The flight departed at 6. That morning.
Then ensued 2 hours in a world of pain: calling the airline, calling the travel agency, Dad flipping out, being on hold for 25 minutes, only to speak to a person on the other end for less than 1 minute. But ultimately I managed to resolve everything. Thanks Monica from Best Travel Store.
She got me on another 6AM flight the next day. In the end my little mistake only cost me $360.

I promise I will never, ever, ever miss a flight again.

"Don't tell your mom about this," Dad warned. Uh...OBVI!!! Do you know who you're talking to? I practically invented the mantra "what Mom doesn't know won't hurt her."

So Mom came home a few hours later, and we went to Costco to buy some gifts for the people I would be visiting in Hong Kong. She always insists on sending vitamins to people in Asia--she's convinced that vitamins in Asia are whack. If you're reading this and you're Asian, you know what I'm talking about.
So we loaded the cart with tons of Centrum and Viactiv. I said we needed to get them some things that Hong Kong people don't typically have, or some things with a New England/Boston flavor. I was thinking, how about some live lobster? Dad said they wouldn't let me pass through customs like that. How about some Craisins? OK! Cranberries are so New England! (Actually someone told me that Wisconsin is the largest producer of cranberries. Oops.)
Still attached to the idea of lobster, as I wandered through the warehouse: How about some lobster bisque? No, it might not keep for 16+ hours.
How about some smoked salmon? Well, it would keep. But it would make my entire suitcase stink of fish.
Then Mom had an idea. How about some maple syrup? Pure maple syrup? Are you crazy, Mom? They only sell in bulk at Costco! Each jug of maple syrup weighs 5 pounds!
But I can't stop Mom once she gets an idea. Into the cart went 3 jugs of maple syrup. "They'll love it," she insists. "Luxury item. Takes so long to make maple syrup. It's so New England."
"But the packaging is so industrial and ugl--"
"Look!" she interrupted, jabbing a finger at the label. "Maple tree. Is good."

At home I packed everything into 1 medium-sized suitcase. I've been trying to become more zen and decrease the material possessions in my life. I had to put in all these vitamins and New England flavored gifts. I only had room for 3 outfits and 2 pairs of shoes.
Listen, I know what you're thinking. Vivien Wu, 3 outfits?!
It's true. I'm turning over a new leaf. And if you permutate the tops and bottoms it's really 9 outfits. ^_^
It turned out that even my new zen approach to packing wasn't enough to get my suitcase under the weight limit. Centrum and maple syrup are so heavy! In the end Dad convinced Mom to let go of the maple syrup. I was actually a little disappointed because I had been looking forward to seeing the look on all those Chinese family friends' faces as I pulled out huge jugs of maple syrup clad in industrial brown plastic.

Well, by this time the domestic bliss had worn off. Yes, done with packing and will be leaving my parents! I can finally sleep for 3 hours before waking up at 3AM to go to the airport! Dad and I breathed a collective sigh of relief. Then, doom.

"What is this?" I heard Mom say in the living room. Oh no! She was shuffling through some papers I had left on the table. She found the paperwork for the flight change and surcharge. I tried to snatch it from her hands.
"It's nothing it's fine nothing to worry about everything's all set stop touching my things I hate it when you touch my things," I mumbled.
Well, to make an already-long story short, she was really mad and blamed it all on me. SOML.

I promise I will never, ever, ever miss a flight again.