Just had an email from Gary and I quote:
Adelaide to Kuala Lumpur - Jan & Gary.
About 40 minutes before scheduled departure they called for the "pointy end of the plane" people to start boarding along with those who require assistance. Then the PA announcement asking for passengers Lloyd x2 to come to the boarding gate service desk. Oh dear, could it be the three months of medication for Gary that he told them about? Gary went up to find out and they said Jan was needed too. Taking all our carry on to the desk they asked for our boarding passes. Why? Economy was very full so they upgraded us to Business Class! We boarded straight away and were offered a juice as soon as we sat down while everyone else boarded.
We took off on time and not long in they gave us lunch (yes it was still morning but you lose all time perspective when you are retired and on holiday!). Needless to say we needed to test the champagne to ensure it was of sufficient standard. We had a room booked at the airport hotel and had to go through customs. Having a Business Class boarding pass we were able to go to the short queue (1 person in front of us) rather than the long queue (maybe 150 people?!!). We will have about 5.5 hours before leaving to catch our flight to Heathrow, due to land at 05:50 where we should have a welcoming party (Rick & Gill).
All in all a great start to what should be a memorable holiday.
Rick points out how hard it is to report this to you.
Anyway, back to the real people’s world.
Last night, Rick discovered that he packed the wrong cable to charge the phone, so that was first in the list for this morning. Went back to the Ladies Market area and found a computer shop and bought the right cable. We then caught the MTR to Hong Kong island and headed for the Peak Tram. Well it is Sunday and there were not just tourists wanting to ride. We spent an hour in the queue before we got on the tram. It was, apart from the crowds, just as good as previously.
Coffee time and we found a great coffee shop with a great view, for about 10 mins, then down came the rain, heavy tropical stuff and suddenly there was nothing to see.
Once the rain stopped, we found the bus to take us down the hill, a double decker and we had top front seats, well worth the ride. Back on the train, just made the shuttle bus back to the hotel, even though we got saturated. we picked the wrong exit from the station and had to hurry around the block, no time to wait for the rain to stop.
We’re now sitting in the “executive” lounge again, watching the rain and relaxing before we get a taxi at about 8:30 to the airport.
The hotel offers guests a smart phone to use while they are here. Free phone calls to a number of countries, including Australia and internet/3g access while out and about. We used the phone a lot for navigating back to the hotel or stations. Is that almost as good as a business class upgrade?
Heathrow and breakfast with Debbie next stop.
