Left Belmont Aeropelican at 12.55pm. The wind was NW and so changeable - the ride to Sydney was quite bouncy. Nevertheless, the view of the lake and the harbour were great and the landing was as smooth as you could hope for in the circumstances. I remember hoping that the international flight was not like that, because I don't think I could handle 20 hours of it.
Jill and I caught a shuttle bus to the international terminal from Ansett domestic and got something to eat in the horrendously priced food hall section. I'd checked in for my flight and got my boarding pass already, and now Jill went to get hers. I did some shopping - got a book to read and a bottle of Bombay Sapphire for Pauline and Derek - and went to meet her. She had just finished, and then I had to board. There were an awful lot of Olympic official-type people all through the airport. Jill and I met very briefly on the other side of security and we said goodbye until Manchester.
I boarded my flight - thinking I had walked down the service ramp because of the chaos of the staff - and found my seat. It was the aisle of the right-hand window block (two seats only - 737). The 4.10pm take-off was fine (almost a disappointment) and views of the harbour were good. Dinner came, and I chose a beef stew with rice and veges. It was OK. The flight started off a tad bumpy, but once outside the cloud line, it was very smooth - nothing like the Belmont plane. I watched Gone in 60 Seconds. In the audio channels, 18 and 20 were cool coz they were the old/jazzy channels.
We came into Hong Kong at 1am Aus time (very bumpy landing) and everyone got off to change planes. It was 30 degrees C! I had to catch a train to another gate, which would have been scary had I thought about it, but as it was, I just followed everyone else. I had to wait to board the ongoing flight to Paris/Manchester, and by the time we were organised, we took off half an hour late. They brought another dinner (having had a second one on the first flight - pizza, yuck!) which was actually 'supper' (chicken stroganoff) and it was all I could do to stay awake long enough to eat it. I slept for six hours now (the first half of the flight) and then another three or so after getting up once.
About two hours before Paris, I started feeling sick, and when they brought breakfast out, the smell of that - especially the Chinese breakfasts - made it much worse. I only managed to force down half an interesting-looking croissant and a cup of juice. I felt a fair bit better after that. The Paris landing was good - the lights were very nice. Most passengers got off here, and they refuelled the plane and people came on (some smelly French men included) to clean and they changed flight crews. I got my camera out, put film in, and tried to take some shots of the sunrise. It was 7am Paris time, but 4pm Aus EST.
We finally took off again - this time piloted by Captain Roger Osbourne - after waiting for about four incoming Air France flights, and got underway to Manchester. The views of France's fields were nice. I felt a bit queasy here, but ate their snack - a devon (?), tomato, and lettuce roll, juice, and a Madeleine de Commercy (a yummy Madeira cake thingo) and felt immediately a bit better. Felt bad again just coming into Manchester - views of city good. They said it was 14 degrees.
We touched down at 8.45am UK time (6.45pm Aus EST) so therefore, I had spent a total of 29 hours and 45 minutes on planes. I was quite pleased to see solid ground again.
I navigated through Manchester airport with no problems - flashed my UK passport - and went to collect baggage. My bag showed up, thank god, having been checked in through from Belmont. I went out to the arrivals hall, and met up with Pauline and Derek after about 15 minutes. We loaded my gear into the car and went to another terminal to collect Jill.
Jill and I caught a shuttle bus to the international terminal from Ansett domestic and got something to eat in the horrendously priced food hall section. I'd checked in for my flight and got my boarding pass already, and now Jill went to get hers. I did some shopping - got a book to read and a bottle of Bombay Sapphire for Pauline and Derek - and went to meet her. She had just finished, and then I had to board. There were an awful lot of Olympic official-type people all through the airport. Jill and I met very briefly on the other side of security and we said goodbye until Manchester.
I boarded my flight - thinking I had walked down the service ramp because of the chaos of the staff - and found my seat. It was the aisle of the right-hand window block (two seats only - 737). The 4.10pm take-off was fine (almost a disappointment) and views of the harbour were good. Dinner came, and I chose a beef stew with rice and veges. It was OK. The flight started off a tad bumpy, but once outside the cloud line, it was very smooth - nothing like the Belmont plane. I watched Gone in 60 Seconds. In the audio channels, 18 and 20 were cool coz they were the old/jazzy channels.
We came into Hong Kong at 1am Aus time (very bumpy landing) and everyone got off to change planes. It was 30 degrees C! I had to catch a train to another gate, which would have been scary had I thought about it, but as it was, I just followed everyone else. I had to wait to board the ongoing flight to Paris/Manchester, and by the time we were organised, we took off half an hour late. They brought another dinner (having had a second one on the first flight - pizza, yuck!) which was actually 'supper' (chicken stroganoff) and it was all I could do to stay awake long enough to eat it. I slept for six hours now (the first half of the flight) and then another three or so after getting up once.
We finally took off again - this time piloted by Captain Roger Osbourne - after waiting for about four incoming Air France flights, and got underway to Manchester. The views of France's fields were nice. I felt a bit queasy here, but ate their snack - a devon (?), tomato, and lettuce roll, juice, and a Madeleine de Commercy (a yummy Madeira cake thingo) and felt immediately a bit better. Felt bad again just coming into Manchester - views of city good. They said it was 14 degrees.
We touched down at 8.45am UK time (6.45pm Aus EST) so therefore, I had spent a total of 29 hours and 45 minutes on planes. I was quite pleased to see solid ground again.
I navigated through Manchester airport with no problems - flashed my UK passport - and went to collect baggage. My bag showed up, thank god, having been checked in through from Belmont. I went out to the arrivals hall, and met up with Pauline and Derek after about 15 minutes. We loaded my gear into the car and went to another terminal to collect Jill.
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