After more than 24-hours of transit from Toronto to Hong Kong via a stopover in the always glamorous Newark airport, we arrived in the bright neon lights and crowd-filled streets of Hong Kong - also known as Asia’s world city. What does “Asia’s World City” mean exactly? I had 6 days to find out.

DRIVING FROM THE AIRPORT INTO TSIM SHA TSUI AT NIGHT

At first sight, Hong Kong can be overwhelming but if you're like me and you love big cities and actually get an adrenaline rush over the energy that emanates from crowds and the possibilities that come along with it, then Hong Kong is your spot and 4 million fellow visitors last year also agree. I’m counting on this adrenaline to help me transition to the 13-hour time difference. So far, I was dying to clean away my day-old in-flight grime and dreaming of my hotel room.

An exceptionally spacious and friendly hotel that takes the best of urban modern design, The Mira is located on the Kowloon side of the island in the heart of the action-filled Tsim Sha Tsui district. Walking distance is the Star Ferry, Hong Kong’s beloved subway (the MTR), and Knutsford Terrace (Kowloon’s nightlife epicentre).

First things first - order room service and charge batteries… We’re always charging batteries- laptop, video camera, photo camera, go-pro, cell phone, etc. It’s the bane of our existence on trips, often nearly causing fires in our rooms every time. I was already preparing my apologies to the Mira. Fortunately, the extremely friendly staff at the Mira had the foresight to have a bunch of 20-pound power transformers for our adaptors and happily delivered them to our rooms.

After an amazing much-needed bath and eating my weight in room service, I hit the sack and proceeded to wake up 3 hours later and staying awake until breakfast. Welcome to jetlag, folks. Day 1 is sure gonna be a pretty one, and the pretty one ain't gonna be me.