(FIRST POST OF 2013 EXCHANGE) Great Timing, Don't You Think?

(Mr Viz - husband of Rebecca Vizulis and China Exchange tech support!)

For those of you who look forward to following the China Exchange Blog when it revs up around Chinese New Year each year, you must be wondering why nothing has appeared given that the departure date of February 8 (yesterday) has come and gone.  Well, wouldn't you know it, the 5th biggest snowstorm in Massachusetts history had to hit us at exactly the right (wrong) time, cancelling Friday 10am flight to Newark/Hong Kong.  Why it was cancelled, and so soon, is beyond me.  The forecast called for the storm to start in earnest around Friday noon, and in fact on Friday morning things weren't too bad.  But United had already cancelled all its flights on Thursday evening.  Are the airlines getting soft?

Since the travel part of the Exchange is tightly planned, Ms Viz and her travel agent were thrown into total panic.  Last-minute availability of flights to China isn't the best.  And if arrival in Hong Kong were delayed too much, they would miss the entire New Year's celebration spectacle, as well as possibly the cruise of the Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo.  Luckily, another flight to Hong Kong was found via Toronto, departing from Logan Sunday morning.  However, it too was cancelled earlier this evening.

As of this writing, the only hope is for the group to catch a flight to Toronto from La Guardia in New York early on Sunday morning. So tomorrow at 3am, they drive to New York, catch that flight, and fly to Beijing and Guilin.  No Hong Kong, which is a real shame.  But at this point, there's no choice!

Join me in wishing them well, and please follow their adventures here via their frequent posts.  And do the Exchange a big favor by sharing posts via Facebook!