2013: Great Escape Adventure Begins

Welcome to another year of the Great Escape Around-The-World Scavenger Hunt blog.  This is YEAR SIX for Rainey and me. How lucky are we?

Everyone gathered in Los Angeles yesterday for check-in and the Bon Voyage party.  Nerves were running high as we all debated (at great length) where the trip might take us.  Since we have no idea of our itinerary, we were likely all wrong. All through dinner we kept watching Bill (the program coordinator) and waiting for him to give the 4 hour warning (we don’t get to know the next destination for our trip until 4 hours before we have to be at the airport). General consensus projected a Midnight -1 AM take-off from LAX to some far-away place  - probably Japan - …so by 8 PM…. the tensions were running high. Nothing.  9 PM came and went.  No announcement.  Bill sweated us out until we got back to the hotel after dinner when he handed out envelopes with strict instructions to not open them until 7 AM today.  That meant two things: (a) we got to actually sleep the night in the swanky hotel we were checked into; (YEAH… I was feeling particularly sleep-deprived and dying for a good night’s rest) and (b) we would not know our destination until we woke up.  Ollie called our room at 7:03 AM (I was still asleep) with the news: first stop - SHANGHAI, China.  Awesome. Never been there. 

As I type this, we are all on the interminable (14 hour) flight to China.  My son Jordan decided to eat a last "normal" snack right as he boarded… bagel with cream cheese.  And lucky he did.  The flight is totally full: a fact that is apparently a total surprise to the airline since they did not load on board enough food, soda or even ice for everyone. Rainey and I had (middle of the row) seats in the far back and, by the time the flight attendants came to us, chunks of the meal tray was missing.  

Jordan and my mom got separated at check-in so poor Jordan got stuck – by himself – sandwiched between two people who speak no English with nothing to do. This plane is an older model with no entertainment system: no individual TVs at every chair, no music, nothing.  Jordan has his Kindle Tablet and a travel pillow.  He’s been bored into sleeping for hours at a stretch. The flight was so long and uncomfortable. We tried to follow the philosophy that "“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles” but the miles won on this leg.

We landed in China at 6 PM.  First hurdle: the quarantine section. Everyone has to walk through a machine that looks a lot like a  TSA X-Ray machine except it is taking your temperature and scanning you for fever. With the recent bird flu outbreak, anyone with a fever is denied access.  Although I felt fine, you feel obligated to hold your breath and panic (just a little) as you go through because what the heck would you do if you failed this basic entrance exam?

By the time we got luggage and started off to the hotel it was getting dark. So far Shanghai reminds me a lot of Hong Kong… clean, skyscrapers, very modern.

The hotel itself is gorgeous. Super fancy with all the luxuries.  Jordan loved the tea tray in the room....

We were all super foggy after being awake almost 24 hours by then so quick dinner and off to bed.  Bill is opening the leg at 9 AM tomorrow…. And the world awaits us.

Before I start blogging about the trip, here’s a quick Recap on the event / Rules

For those of you now joining this blog, here’s a quick summary about this event and the rules. Great Escapes is a charity that raises money each year through organizing a world scavenger hunt.  Over the next 22 days we will visit 11 countries (going west around the world) but we have no idea which ones.  The competition is designed to be a true “blind date with the world.” In each country we will be given a booklet of scavenges, riddles, puzzles, adventures that we must complete to gain points. The person with the most points at the end wins.  It is like the show “Amazing Race” (except better) but instead of winning a pot of money, each team raises money for the charity. From past experience I can honestly say that this trip is the most exhausting and rewarding adventure… both at the same time. 

AND a quick introduction to the teams this year:

Rainey and I  - We are still competing as “Lawyers Without Borders” and – even though this is our 6^th year on the event – we are as excited as everyone else to be bake out here exploring the world.

Nanny and Jordan – My mom (at almost 70) and my son (at a very hormonal 13) are “The Escapees.”  It will be a true test of patience for them to not kill each other on this trip. 

Wendy and Ollie Herman– One of my closest friends for 25+ years (can you believe … I’m actually old enough to say that??) is traveling with her 14 year old son Oliver.  They are “the Traveling Neophytes” because they have not done a lot of overseas traveling.  This may blow their minds!!!  Wendy is blogging about the trip at “wendy2world.wordpress.com” and her insights are funny and authentic.  Please read her adventures as well as she provides a different perspective to this exploration.

Marnie and Madeline Cervenka – Another old and dear friend, Marnie is traveling with her 13 year old daughter Madeline as team “M Squared.”  They are in the heat of the mother-daughter-puberty-conflict and the betting pool is on as to which team combusts first: my mom and son and the M&Ms. Marnie’s husband and her youngest daughter are going to join the competition for the European leg but for now… they are forced to bond by themselves.

Erik and Cassie – We have finally convinced Erik Walker (a lawyer friend of ours from Austin – and a veteran of the epic hormone therapy litigation wars) to take this trip. Erik - and his partner Cassie – are finally on vacation after Erik worked himself into abject illness in the HRT project. Erik (like me) has not finished with a work project that we're both responsible for.... so he and I  both spent much of the flight beating on the keys of our laptops.

And the non-Littlepage affiliated teams:

Andrew & Sasskia – A team from New Zealand and the returning champions from last year

Phil & Jerry – A father – grown son team from Canada.

Michael & John – A father-grown son team from Charlotte, NC.  The dad followed our blogs the last few years and tried – unsuccessfully - to coerce someone in his family to go with him. This year he nabbed his son.

Bill & Anahe (I’m probably butchering her name) – A lawyer / pediatrician team.

Kim & Maria – An LA couple who recently got out of the rat race and are “The Retired Traveling Chicks” team.  Kim was a police lieutenant and Maria (reluctantly) admitted that she was responsible for parking tickets in an area of LA (apparently a career that brings with it little popularity).

Sean and Angela – A husband-wife team from Jackson, Mississippi.  Sean works for Pepsi and Angela is a physician’s assistant.  Sean suffered a severe back injury a few years ago and walks with a cane. Even though he’s in chronic and immense pain, they are super enthusiastic about competing.

Michael and Nita – This team did the trip twice before in 2000 and 2003… from years before Rainey and I started going.  So they are true veterans.

Demetrio and Marguerite – Demetrio is originally from Jamaica and Marguerite is from Poland.  They now live in Miami. If we end up in Poland during the Europe leg, we’ll all become Marguerite’s newest best friend.