Thursday was a PV day.

Daily weigh loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total weight loss: ??? I don’t have my spreadsheet with me…

So, I usually blog in the morning about the day before, which I’m doing now. But, the title is appropriate for today 🙂 More on that at the end.

Woke up after 8 happy to be with friends in Hong Kong. I am amazingly grateful for my blessings of having a job that enables me to travel. And off we went in search of breakfast and passport photo booth for Lucy & Ethel so they could apply for their visas to visit China.

Quick walk to Times Square to find out the photo places open at 11, shuhada! We tuck into a busy little diner and order eggs and sausage. Just the right portion for me, but the girls were a bit concerned that I’ll be starving them 🙂 (Ethel just opened the bathroom door after her daily weigh in to let me know she lost 0.9 kg since yesterday morning… She’ll be a believer soon!)

We then got their pictures done and took a walk around city center. The whole city is decorated for Christmas and is beautiful…

Then off to the visa office at 2 pm.

Lucy & Ethel filling out forms…

The LINE!

Where, after over an hour we find out that Ethel needs more documents because she’s from the Philippines. She needs a return tix to Manila (which we were going to book in Hangzhou) and hotel voucher… What to do? We decided to hit up a sushi restaurant and figure it out. I was able to google map a travel agency 175 meters away, so after a hurried lunch we rushed over and got to the agency at 403 pm. Note that the embassy closes at 5 and if we didn’t get them documents before then Ethel & Lucy would have been stuck here until at least Monday, and Hong Kong is an expensive city to be stuck in!! I have to add here that we don’t realize how lucky we are to be from the Western world until we find friends who aren’t and realize it is much more difficult for them to travel as freely as I can.

Troy, the amazing travel agent (and not bad to look at either) got to work right away on the reservations while Lucy and I darted back downstairs in search of wireless so I could email him Ethel’s flight info to Hangzhou and he could print it for those pesky immigration people. Lucy says while we’re running back to the agency that she feels like we’re on The Amazing Race!

Troy got the tickets done in under 20 mi it’s!!! And then we started running the 3 blocks, which includes taking stairs up and crossing over the highway and then back down and arrive at the embassy at 441. They let us in! YAY! And we go right up to the desk we were at before. After a few tense moments the girl accepts Ethel’s papers and then states… “oh, because she is not applying from her home country, she is from the Philippines, AND this is her first time applying for a visa to China, she may not be approved… WTF!!?? Deep breaths… We smile, we thank, we’re told to come back Friday after 4 for the decision… We’re praying it all goes well, if not, we make other plans.

After that fiasco we trek back to the hotel, feeling a bit deflated, but trying to keep positive. The girls took a little rest, I read my emails and the other blogs I follow and then we got ready for the long hike to Ryan’s Chicago steakhouse. My favorite in this city. I had my standard bacon cheese burger and a house salad, no bun, no fries, of course!

Then a walk around the mall…

My jacket now zips and I’m very happy about that 😀

And then the long walk back to the hotel… Fabulous day!

Now for the “Friday” part… It’s Friday morning and my last day of being 47. It’s been a crazy, emotional, fun, nightmarish, amazing roller coaster of a year. I’ve had a few endings and a couple of awesome new beginnings. Life is very, very good and I absolutely can’t wait to see what adventures I’ll experience in my 48th year.

To my mommy… I know that today is a tough day for you, I’m sure daddy is smiling down on you, saying Happy Anniversary… Thanks to both of you for creating me.

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.