How to Relax After a Fifteen-Hour Flight to Hong Kong

A man in Hong Kong is caressing me and yet we’ve barely even exchanged hellos. I’m at the airport, in a delicious place called Oriental Healing Art next to gate 41 and I’m indulging in something I always seem to talk myself out of when traveling. A foot massage.

After a fifteen-hour flight, my legs are sore and I’m sporting a serious pair of cankles. In the past, this water retention prank has alarmed me to the point of panic attack. Case in point, my first twenty-four hours in Cambodia. It’s the middle of the night and I’m naked, curled into fetal position on the cool, tiled bathroom floor of some fancy hotel. My boyfriend is there feeding me Xanax, which I chew without water in hope that it’ll enter my system quicker.

But now I know better. I know it’s not deep vein thrombosis risk. It’s dehydration. And the effects of being cramped like airborne veal for an extended period. I know it’ll go away soon, especially with the added benefit of this Hong Kong airport man’s reflexology skills.

After a half hour of soaking, poking, prodding, and kneading, he even thoughtfully attends to a bruise on my ankle by rubbing it with Tiger Balm. Two days later it’ll be completely healed, the arduous flights long forgotten.

The only issue is I signed up for this experience having no idea what the conversion rate is between Hong Kong dollars and U.S. dollars. I’m hoping it’s not an even exchange, otherwise, I’m about to give this guy a $40 tip.

Travel Betty Basics
Oriental Healing Arts
Hong Kong Airport
Between Gates 40 and 41
1/2 hour reflexology treatment: US $35 + tip