3/7/03 - Friday: Jim- Well we lift off from LAX on Cathay Pacific. We appreciated the LAX first class lounge (the first time either of us have been in one) but it was small and crowded. I'm looking forward to the trip, but Heather is bouncing off the walls, butterflys-in-the-stomach excited. Sitting in Business Class on an international flight is very nice indeed! The seat reclines almost to a full flat bed and the meals are a full three courses. The personal tv screen has more movies/tv/music than directv at home and this stewardess keeps coming by to ask if she can refill my drink (of course I say yes, I don't want to be rude). This is too cool. The initial excitement wears off and we actually sleep more than half of the 14 hours to Hong Kong. The wierd thing is that we left in the dark, and it was dark outside the whole flight. We land in Hong Kong and it's still dark outside at 6am. Now it's Sunday morning, even though back home it's Saturday afternoon. We've got a 5 hr. layover in Hong Kong. The Cathay first class lounge here is ridiculous. At least 50K sq ft. with 2 full bars, library, 2 internet cafes, couches, showers and cafeteria. The enormity of what we are doing is starting to sink in on me. We have a loosely based itinerary, in a far off country where we don't speak the language or know the customs. This is a little wacky, but I'm confident we'll have a blast just pioneering it on our own.