inside the train going to HK Immigration Booth
So there, after almost two hours up in the air, we finally stepped in at Hong Kong International Airport. I had a month of preparation and would you believe I even watched tutorials on
YouTube on what should we do upon arriving at HKIA? I don’t want it to be obvious from the other passengers that we were first timers so I went to
different forums and sites that talk about HongKong. Hubby let me do that task and his only participation was to pay for anything if there is the need (tickets, tip, fees etc).
In line while waiting for our turn (at her back was my son looking through HK maps on his hands)
The night before our flight, Hubby asked me if I already know how will it be when we reached HK, I said yes, I watched several tutorials I said. From getting out of the plane, to the Immigration, to Baggage Claim and lastly, in finding the booth of our travel agency that will escort us to Disney Hollywood Hotel.
at the HKIA lobby, waiting for the other guests who will be with us in the shuttle going to DHH
The thing was, when we went outside the plane, we were greeted by lots of passengers exiting from different flights. With the kids tagging along with me and my mom, I couldn’t concentrate enough to think of where we should be going. I told hubby that we should just follow the crowd. The problem was, the fellow Pinoys who were with us also don’t know where to go. I told hubby we should look for the Immigration first before claiming our bags. We just followed the arrow signs pointing to the Immigration. When it points to the escalators going down, we followed. Then we got confused when we saw a train down there. “Do we have to ride in there?” hubby asked me. I said I don’t know, there was no train mentioned in the
videos that I watched. But then I said, “let’s just follow the signs”. Even those other Pinoys were in doubt if they should jumped in too. I said, we better try it and just go back if we got lost.

Our kids were all hungry and thirsty so Hubby grabbed some snacks in one of the store inside the airport
We did the right thing to do! For about five minutes or less, we stepped out of the train and saw again the arrow sign going up the escalator then points to the Immigration. But I’m still not familiar with what I saw, then an airport assistant saw us and led us to the left side when the Pinoys who were with us went on the right. Upon reaching the Immigration booth, Hubby and I were in doubt because most of the people who were in line seemed to be residents of HK. I said, I think we went the wrong way. We went back and went on the other side and there it was, the Immigration booth for visitors and other Pinoys were there too. We felt relieved and fall in line.
I don’t know if there was such a thing, a separate booth for visitors and residents of HK, but mom and I suspected that maybe the airport assistant, upon seeing my husband, chinky eyed and looked somehow like them, thought we were residents of HK that’s why he pointed us to the opposite direction.
While waiting for our turn, the kids picked up maps and brochures of HK that were all over the airport. It was our turn finally! Hubby gave the officer our passports (he didn’t look friendly at all actually). He looked at us one by one and checked our passports. My eldest son kept on walking and didn’t saw that he was going beyond the booth. The officer said something in their language (and I know from his tone that it is not good) so I immediately grabbed my son and husband said sorry for that. He then let us pass and we went down again to claim our baggage. After that, we went out and there it was, the familiar look of the arrival hall (just exactly what I saw in Youtube). We continued to walk until we reached the travel agency booth and the representative greeted us. He said we will just wait for another passenger then he will bring us to the hotel. We waited for 10 minutes but the guests that were supposed to be with us didn’t showed up so we went out and the travel agent, named Robert, escorted us to the shuttle going to Disney Hollywood Hotel.

Poor Mom, tired and exhausted when we finally got inside the Shuttle
* * *