Like last trip, I'm going to attempt to keep a little journal of what's been happening. I'm sure it'll make for riveting reading, but I really don't care - it's more for my benefit than anything else.
This part is written while waiting for the plane to load at Brisbane. The advantage of travelling with parents this time is that it gave me access to the Qantas Club. In 45 minutes or so, I managed to down a few premium beers - one bluetongue (a SA drop - quite nice actually), one Crown (with a twist-top no less - must have contributed to the lacklustre taste) and one heinekin (misspelled - but I can't bother checking it out). So that's set me in good stead for the plane trip to Hong Kong.
While waiting to check out baggage in - don't get me started on the 25kg limit per person - preposterous stuff - we were dragged aside by the attendant. My first thought was all kinds of bad things - especially in the ridiculously restricted modern day and age. But no - it was actually something good - with a catch. It appears that Economy class was overbooked (my cynical reading), which meant we qualified for an upgrade to Business Class - yay! The catch? There was only room to upgrade two of our group - not all four. Being magnanimous, I volunteered to stay to cattle class and allowed my Mother and sister to be upgraded. I'm such a gentleman...
Little did I know that our seats - myself and my father - were located in aisle 70 - right at the very back of the plane! So if Lost is correct, I'll end up on the other side of the island and won't be discovered until Season 02. Such a shame.
Rather than having to squint at a dodgy tv screen 20 metres away - each seat has a small monitor in the back of it. There is, however, a suspicious card swipe slot that makes my father think that we may have to pay to watch the entertainment. That would be disappointing to say the least. Hopefully the batteries will hold out on my own devices for the estimated arrival, Brisbane time of 11:44pm.
Now I wait for the plane to take off so I can get another drink.
Didn't have to pay for the movies - however I'm not sure that was a blessing. Had the choice of Miami Vice - with an increasingly choppy audiotrack that pretty much made it impossible, Pirates 2 (seen it) and My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Amongst the many crimes of this move - possibly the worst is allowing Uma Thurman to sing the song on the closing credits - I'm pretty sure it was her. One word - dreadful.
Having arrived in Hong Kong - the airport is freaking huge. But like pretty much all airports around the world - it still looks the same. Although I'm been to both London and New York, driving into Hong Kong proper itself is still an amazing sight. You just don't appreciate that, with so many people and so little land, the only way to build is up. Consequently you have masses of almost-identical apartment towers all looking as if they've been squeezed out of the same construction set. Looks pretty spectacular at night.
After checking into the hotel, had a brief wander up and down the streets. Adam would enjoy what appears to be the compulsory Asian habit that you must smoke - cigarettes are everywhere. It'll be fun to see how long my mother (a militant ex-smoker) manages to last without throwing a turn. They also seem to have picked up that lovely habit so common in Asian countries of wandering along the street, screaming into their mobile phones. Just because it's mobile, doesn't mean you have the share the conversation with the rest of the world...
No wi-fi in the room - which is a pity. So who knows when I'll get to post this. The airport had a free wi-fi service, so if worst comes to worst, these posts will come in a rush in five days time.
First proper day of Hong Kong starts tomorrow, so I'd better finish this and try to get a decent night's sleep.
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