Awoke just before 6am this morning to a text message from Cathay Pacific saying that our flight today from Phuket to Hong Kong was canceled. I hopped on the Cathay Pacific website to see if they had rerouted us. No such luck. But I could check in for the Hong Kong to Seattle leg if I wanted to. Not helpful.
An alert on the website indicated the source of the issue is the riots and protests in Hong Kong over Hong Kong’s new law that would allow extradition of suspects to the jurisdiction where a crime occurred. Hong Kong did this in response to a murder that occurred in Taiwan where the suspect fled to Hong Kong and nothing could be done to enact justice. However, opponents of the law are concerned that the law would apply to political dissidents from Taiwan and China. The problem with the airport isn’t so much riots there as work stoppage protests – air traffic controllers, ground crews, and airline crews called in sick in droves – thereby affecting air travel.
The challenge for us is that the only routing Cathay Pacific flies from Phuket to Seattle is through Hong Kong. After figuring all that out, I booked us another flight home on Delta through Shanghai that leaves at 11pm tonight rather than our planned 6:30PM departure, though with a significantly longer layover it puts us home 12 hours later. And even though the price is the same as the refund we would get from Cathay Pacific, its coach instead of the cushy Premium seats we already paid for. Its on a 24 free cancelation deal, so having the backup plan in place, I could then determine what other options we have.
By then it was almost 7am and the front desk here at Action Point was opening up. I jetted downstairs to determine if they had room for us to stay longer – which they do. We can stay till Thursday from their POV with no impact. Then back upstairs to text Erica to let her know I was working it, and she said to come on over to her room for a quick conversation. We decide that we could stay longer provided Erica is home by Thursday morning at the latest.
So I get on the phone with Expedia to see what they say about our options – since the original flight was booked through them. The agent called Cathay Pacific and we sat on hold for about an hour. Thank goodness for free WiFi calling through T-Mobile while traveling! They were able to rebook us on the exact same itinerary as our original ticket two days from now. So that will work – provided that the Hong Kong airport is back up and running in two days hence. We canceled the backup ticket, but tomorrow, I am going to book another one that we will cancel later for free too – so we have a running backup plan.
Bumping our return out two days then led to a bit of a scramble rearranging a few meetings I had scheduled this week. And I called a few folks back home to check in and see what fun I would be missing at work.
After which it was time for breakfast. Followed by another LPG cellulite fighting massage. Then onto our regular personal training appointment. I asked Anthony to design a work out that I could do myself while traveling over the next few weeks before I can find a gym and get into a routine there. He designed one that I can do with just a few weights – which I ordered on Amazon so they will be home before I am.
Upon return to my room after lunch, I discovered that Alaska Air had rescheduled our flights to Puerto Vallarta for Christmas. Sigh. Some days… wouldn’t be a big deal except that we are meeting my uncle and his wife there and we were all coordinated time wise so we could pile in a single rental car to make the trek out to the AirBnb where we are staying. So shot a quick email to my aunt to instruct her to go hang out at the marina next to the airport till we get there. Lots of great restaurants and a nice view – so way better place to hang out for a couple of hours than the airport!
Another ice bath. Ahhhh. I’ve developed a bad case of heat rash so the ice water feels really good and quells the itching. Heat rash is caused by clogged sweat glands that get unhappy because they can’t release sweat. Turns out that one of the things that can cause the rash is use of creams or oils that are petroleum based that can clog the glands. Yesterday I bought coconut oil to substitute for the oil that the massage therapists here use as I suspect that might be part of the problem. Yes, ok, maybe you can get too many massages! Not that this stops or discourages me from continuing with my daily massage mind you. But for sure this puts an end to hot yoga!