As I still had some Singapore change left and having passed through customs and the luggage screening I bought a bottle of water and a can of Diet Coke with an advertisement for a Singapore event to drink on the plane. The departure gate was at the end of the terminal so it was a long walk and when I got there, Cathay Pacific had set up for the last two gates another luggage screening. Of course they took my water and Diet Coke. I was asked if I wanted to drink them but just having had breakfast I gave them up.
As I went through to give the boarding pass I was informed I had a message waiting for me at the Cathay Pacific counter at the gate. The message was from Oli and wanted me to ring him. The lady at the counter wrote Oli’s number on my boarding pass and I phoned him. He told me I must still have Branka’s swipe card for the apartment security door. It was still in my wallet, I had emptied out the wallet the night before and had put all the transport cards and the door key on the table but had forgot to put the security pass. I can remember Branka asking me about the card and the key and I can remember mistakenly telling her I had put it down with the other cards. Sorry Branka. I arranged with Oli to post the card back as soon as I get to London.
I then went to get on the plane but could not find the boarding pass. I still have not found it so I don’t know where I put it. The counter lady told me my seat number so I just got on the plane without further problems. I had as carry-on luggage, my hard sided pilot’s case, my laptop bag and two duty free bags that had various wrapped items from what I had collected in the previous two days.
When I had booked in at Singapore I was early and asked the check in lady if I could get an aisle seat she said no problems and she did so for the Hong Kong - London sector as well. When I got on the plane I actually had an aisle seat but also it was the front seat in the back section of the plane and had a mile of leg room as well.
The flight took 4 hours and we landed in Hong Kong. There is a Olympic Accreditation Centre set up in the Arrivals area of the Airport as the Equestrian events are going to be held in Hong Kong.
I had to go through the transfer area and going through the luggage screening again got picked up for having a full can. I had forgotten about it when I packed my suitcase but it is surprising it got through the two checks in Singapore. So I lost the Budweiser 2008 Olympics can.
I had to get a train out to the terminal to get the connecting flight. I had an hour to wait so I tried to get a Wi-Fi connection but could not get the hook up right so I edited the photos from yesterday.
Getting on the plane I had a good seat again in the front of the back section with someone next to me. I asked the stewardess if there were many spare seats on the plane, she replied that there were about 20 and that if I did not mind moving further back she would try to get me a seat with a spare seat next to it. I said of course not and when everybody was on the plane she actually rearranged a few other people and was able to get me a seat where there were only two seats from the aisle to the window, so I did not have anybody next to me. The two meals were quite good and I watched a couple of movies and some TV shows plus continued to read my book.
The fight was supposed to take 13 hours but we must have made good time as we landed an hour early. The only problem with that was that we had to wait 25 minutes for a space to become available for us to disembark at.
When I went to pick up my luggage I found that the top outside pocket of the case was ripped.
Luckily I had not put anything in it. When I cleared customs I met up with Stewart and Jeanette, who I had not seen since there last Australian visit to a Canathon in 2006. Stewart runs a Chauffeur Car Service business and when I showed that the case had been ripped he took me straight away to the Cathay Pacific check in counter to report it. The lady at the counter told me I should have reported it before I cleared customs but arranged to take me back through customs to the counter at the luggage carousel. She took me through a separate Customs point for airport staff.I only took the damaged bag back through with me with Stewart holding on to the rest of the luggage. Again (I must be a magnet for the luggage scanners) as I was going through a security point and taking the suitcase that normally goes into the hold of the plane through with me the scanner picked up the scissors I had in the case.
As the people knew I was only going through to come back out again they held the scissors and I picked them up on return. At the luggage claim I showed the attendant the damage and he went away and returned with a brand new suitcase for me.
I had to sign some waiver forms against any future claim and I came away with the both the damaged case and a new case. I went back through customs and picked up the scissors on the way out.Coming back with Stewart and Jeannette to their home the car started making a noise in the rear left side. We stopped several times and checked the tyre for any damage but could not find the problem. So at the end of a long trip myself and Stewart were laying on the roadway at 11.30pm checking the car’s rear end and tyres for damage.
Getting back to the house I finally handed over the troublesome Vegemite which was gratefully received and also gave Stewart some of my Guinness items I had collected in Singapore as he collects Guinness items as well.
I finally got to bed at midnight London time after a 26 hour day with just a few short naps on the second plane flight.
Collecting:
Singapore Airport
M&M's - 2 Torch's & a small Table Top soccer game
London Airport
Pringles - 1 Salt & Vinegar Tube
Coca Cola - 6 Different bottles - To get the Bottle Tops. (The two Diet Coke Plus bottles were purchased the next day)
1 comment:
So that is why I got a frantic text from Branka looking for your new mobile number, whenI was dropping off the girls at school....sounds like you are having a great time!
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