This is one term that the people of China are not aware of! My first experience with this was when I flew Air France from Paris, France to Guangzhou, China. I was sitting with a thirtysomething year old man in which we had an empty seat between us. I thought to myself, nice..... a bit of room to stretch out! So I lifted up the arm that was between my seat and the empty seat and the man did the same.
Well after dinner....my seat companion decided that he would lay down in the empty seat with his head against my thigh! I was taken aback by his forwardness! But did not say anything to him, just chalked it up to him being Chinese and he was used to making the most of the minimal space!
Throughout the flight he switched positions, now with his feet against my thigh! At one point while his head was on my thigh, he reached up and put his hands over his head, so essentially his hands were in my lap!!
Welcome to China! :-)
Monday, August 29, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Space vs. Weight
In the past, when packing a suitcase for an overseas flight, used to be that you ran out of space before you even had to worry about how heavy your suitcase was. I recall the day when we were allowed TWO 70 pound suitcases and I was always able to get everything all in and not have to worry about the weight as I would run out of space before I reached 70 pounds.
Now a days, we international travelers are only allowed ONE 50 pound suitcase....it is always a puzzle as to how to get everything packed in UNDER the weight limit. But after having to pack for many, many, many international flights, I have got it down to a science!
I get around this by packing all the heavy stuff in my carry-ons, Although that is a pain having to drag the heavy stuff through the airports and then having to toss it up into the overhead compartments on the plane. And as for carry-ons, I always take the "rolly-polly" and my backpack or a large "purse" type bag as my "personal bag/computer bag". Got to work the system!
It seems that some airlines are pretty lax with the exact weight of 50 pounds and will let a pound or two over go through, but others are sticklers and will NOT accept even one pound over! So in those cases...it is a mad shuffle at the counter to transfer MORE heavy stuff to the carry-ons! And not to forget of course, no liquids or sharp objects in the carry-ons!
It is always a relief once the checked bags get sent through and I am able to proceed to security!
Happy travels......
Now a days, we international travelers are only allowed ONE 50 pound suitcase....it is always a puzzle as to how to get everything packed in UNDER the weight limit. But after having to pack for many, many, many international flights, I have got it down to a science!
I get around this by packing all the heavy stuff in my carry-ons, Although that is a pain having to drag the heavy stuff through the airports and then having to toss it up into the overhead compartments on the plane. And as for carry-ons, I always take the "rolly-polly" and my backpack or a large "purse" type bag as my "personal bag/computer bag". Got to work the system!
It seems that some airlines are pretty lax with the exact weight of 50 pounds and will let a pound or two over go through, but others are sticklers and will NOT accept even one pound over! So in those cases...it is a mad shuffle at the counter to transfer MORE heavy stuff to the carry-ons! And not to forget of course, no liquids or sharp objects in the carry-ons!
It is always a relief once the checked bags get sent through and I am able to proceed to security!
Happy travels......
Friday, July 8, 2011
The Waiting Game
As an experienced international traveler I am well aquatinted with the visa process and all the waiting time that is involved with getting a country's government to approve a work visa or even a visitor's visa. It seems to me in this day and age with super fast computers and the internet, why does this have to be such a long process? Why do we have to wait two weeks to get a visa processed?
I just received word that my work visa documents have been approved by the Chinese Government and are now in a DHL envelope and on their way to me here in Florida. As soon as I get them, I will then have to hire a currier company to get them(documnets, passport, photos and money) to the Chinese Embassy in Houston so that I can get the Work Visa stamped in my passport.....and then the waiting game begins again!
It is my wish that someday this process will not take so long. And maybe even one day we will not even need passports at all. All we will need to do is have our thumb prints scanned at immigration or our eyes and then all our information would be right there on the computer screen and no need for all of this paper trail and the waiting game will be a thing of the past!
I just received word that my work visa documents have been approved by the Chinese Government and are now in a DHL envelope and on their way to me here in Florida. As soon as I get them, I will then have to hire a currier company to get them(documnets, passport, photos and money) to the Chinese Embassy in Houston so that I can get the Work Visa stamped in my passport.....and then the waiting game begins again!
It is my wish that someday this process will not take so long. And maybe even one day we will not even need passports at all. All we will need to do is have our thumb prints scanned at immigration or our eyes and then all our information would be right there on the computer screen and no need for all of this paper trail and the waiting game will be a thing of the past!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Anticipating An Amazing Asian Adventure!
After a long eight month search to obtain an international teaching position, one has finally come into fruition. Not exactly what I had envisioned as far as an educational environment that was perfect for me, but there are a lot of positives and I am focusing on them at the moment and looking forward to getting over to Asia and beginning the new challenges that await me there!
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