Day 35: Sydney to London (via Hong Kong)
The day we knew would eventually arrive arrived. It's up at 8am to do our final packing, final breakfast, final everything holiday. I think we're both feeling a little glum about the holiday being over and the prospect of 24 hours in a small confined space together now seems nothing given we've survived 5 and a half weeks together.
So a scuttle in the shuttle up to the airport and we're ready to go (via duty free), we're surprised how few people board the plane, economy is practically empty as is upper class it's only us mugs in Premium that have a full cabin. Despite that it's a good flight and I think we're both surprised at how long you are actually flying over Australia for (about 4.5 hours), the inflight entertainment keeps me amused along with the two camp-as-tits air stewards. 4 movies and we're about ready to land at Hong Kong International. It's 10pm here, we have a short wait while they re-fuel the plane and take on more passengers - the transit here is far more efficient than LAX on the way out, no re-checking of bags or lengthy customs checks - 10 minutes and we're through. There's little to keep me amused, despite the swathes of designer shops, I just want to finish the journey, still Matt has finally scored a free Internet connection and enjoys a wander.
A minor delay on take-off and the journey continues to London, Matt and I have opted for separate seats this time, neither of us fancied being sandwiched between two strangers for 12 hours. As it turns out I end up chatting with my fellow passengers for the first few hours of this leg, a middle-aged lady who used to be a flight attendant herself and a young guy from Bournemouth. The plane is completely full now and I'm grateful for the extra leg room and the bigger seat, I decide to stay awake until I've been fed then I drop a sleeping pill and I'm out. 5 hours later I re-awake "those pills are good then" Miriam tells me "you were snoring away" ooops!
I while away the rest of the journey with a few more movies and before I know it it's breakfast and we're on our final decent into London. It's a fine morning, the airport is relatively quiet and thankfully people don't seem quite as miserable as I was expecting them to be, even our racist taxi driver seems quite jovial in an awkward kind of way. The weather is bright sunny and warm, much how we left Australia in fact, the trees are in full foliage since we left and being back in Britain doesn't seem so bad at all. Sure I'm stunned Boris Johnson has been elected Mayor of London and the BNP have got a seat, but as we draw closer to home the thought of my cosy bed is consuming me, I feel privileged to have witnessed and seen so much in the previous weeks I'm tired but content, it's over.
Good morning!
So a scuttle in the shuttle up to the airport and we're ready to go (via duty free), we're surprised how few people board the plane, economy is practically empty as is upper class it's only us mugs in Premium that have a full cabin. Despite that it's a good flight and I think we're both surprised at how long you are actually flying over Australia for (about 4.5 hours), the inflight entertainment keeps me amused along with the two camp-as-tits air stewards. 4 movies and we're about ready to land at Hong Kong International. It's 10pm here, we have a short wait while they re-fuel the plane and take on more passengers - the transit here is far more efficient than LAX on the way out, no re-checking of bags or lengthy customs checks - 10 minutes and we're through. There's little to keep me amused, despite the swathes of designer shops, I just want to finish the journey, still Matt has finally scored a free Internet connection and enjoys a wander.
A minor delay on take-off and the journey continues to London, Matt and I have opted for separate seats this time, neither of us fancied being sandwiched between two strangers for 12 hours. As it turns out I end up chatting with my fellow passengers for the first few hours of this leg, a middle-aged lady who used to be a flight attendant herself and a young guy from Bournemouth. The plane is completely full now and I'm grateful for the extra leg room and the bigger seat, I decide to stay awake until I've been fed then I drop a sleeping pill and I'm out. 5 hours later I re-awake "those pills are good then" Miriam tells me "you were snoring away" ooops!
I while away the rest of the journey with a few more movies and before I know it it's breakfast and we're on our final decent into London. It's a fine morning, the airport is relatively quiet and thankfully people don't seem quite as miserable as I was expecting them to be, even our racist taxi driver seems quite jovial in an awkward kind of way. The weather is bright sunny and warm, much how we left Australia in fact, the trees are in full foliage since we left and being back in Britain doesn't seem so bad at all. Sure I'm stunned Boris Johnson has been elected Mayor of London and the BNP have got a seat, but as we draw closer to home the thought of my cosy bed is consuming me, I feel privileged to have witnessed and seen so much in the previous weeks I'm tired but content, it's over.
Good morning!
2 comments :
welcome home !
You have returned to the hottest weather all year, so cocktails and suncream are on you two :0)
Hope to catch up with you both v soon
Yep, welcome back boys.
Summer's certainly begun here in blighty and you didn't miss much of an April.
Back to normaility!
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