Well, Samantha and Matthew delivered me to Manchester Airport
(See Photo) well in time to catch my flight to Heathrow and I had my bag checked in, through to Hong Kong, in no time at all. I had feared the worst being a Bank Holiday weekend and having not been able to check-in, on-line. However, fears were groundless and I was sitting in Costa having a coffee some 15 minutes after I arrived.
As ever, the BA flight (an Airbus A321) was late departing, by about 35 minutes although we were only about 15 minutes late by the time we got to Heathrow.
I see the craze for placing animal figures around has spread to Heathrow with this very decorative elephant taking pride of place
The BA flight to Hong Kong also departed late (Boeing 747-400) but it meant the flight time was marginally shorter and we arrived in HK only 4 minutes behind schedule. HK weather is warm, (31 Degrees) but raining as we arrived. Ho Hum, you can’t have everything.
Found my way to the hotel via the Hotel Shuttle bus Service and checked in with no problems. However, I paid for an extra half day so that I won’t need to leave the hotel until 6 PM on Monday 30th since my flight out isn’t until late evening. See Hotel pictures below.
So this is it, I am definitely on my way after all the months of planning and waiting. Mind you, part of me now doesn’t want to go. Fate, being the fickle creature she is, decided that I should meet a very lovely lady a few weeks ago and it was just impossible to re-arrange things, so I am having to go walkabout without her and that has certainly taken the edge off the trip. However, this wonderful woman has agreed to travel out to join me for three weeks in October/November so, I have that to keep my spirits high while I am travelling alone.
Hope to do a bit of exploring tomorrow and may be able to provide a further update before I set off for New Zealand on Monday. However, off to get myself a beer now before turning in. It has been a long day.
