Off to Europe I go!

An early morning start today, 6am. I had to finish packing and taping up the box, cuddle the dogs, get a cab, drag the bike box down to the street and then wrestle the box into the cab.  The trip to the airport was quick and then a bit of fluffing around with the check in. I wanted to get the two big panniers wrapped in plastic but they don’t do that at the domestic terminal (yes I have to go via Melbourne) so in the end I got two (free) Qantas plastic bags, which worked a treat. The check in itself which was easy enough; although it’s been so long since I last travelled with the bike I forgot to the have bike on its end and couldn’t get into the check in area initially J

After that I went through to the lounge and then had a light breakfast of a scrambled egg on toast with a mini sausage and some baked beans. Then the newspapers and puzzles and call home before boarding, on time!

The flight to Melbourne was pleasant enough, there was a nice omelette with hot bread and a Danish and all washed down with an Austrian Grant Burge sparkling. I was actually feeling a bit sloshed!

I didn’t have a very long wait at the airport, so after a slow walk to the lounge I read the AFR and in no time we were boarding. The plane is an Airbus A350, a new addition to the Cathay fleet, so Business Class is a 1-2-1 configuration. I was in the middle and in the rear cabin where there are only two rows, so nice and quiet. It’s a fully flat bed and there is a really handy storage area.

I watched ‘Assassin’s Creed’ and then the latest X-Men, Logan. Both were ‘ok’. Dinner started with a G&T and some nuts, then a salad, garlic bread and a Foie Gras Terrine with a pleasant glass of Austrian white (Veltliner?).  Next was duck with a light French red, a Gamay which was a nice but a bit young. Then we had a cheese plate with a Portuguese port, followed by some fruit and then chocolate ice cream.

I was feeling a bit tired so I had a doze for a couple of hours. As we were getting close to Hong Kong we had a light second dinner of fruit then a mushroom and prawn penne. I didn’t feel up to any more wine, so a coke, and then there was a nice chocolate mousse.

When we arrived in HK I was feeling quite tired but didn’t want to fall asleep (or eat) so I went for a bit of a walk before going to the lounge. The lounge has a very nice spread of food but I decided to have a shower! Very nice, I felt a lot better after that. Unfortunately while I was in the shower they announced that the departure time had been delayed 1h20 due to a delay at the other end L

I read for quite a while and then went for a very long walk around the airport, it is huge. A lot of stores are shut now (after midnight) but I found a good wine shop which had some interesting French reds. I might be tempted by a 1993 Bordeaux for $100 on the way back if it is still there.

Back in the lounge I read while trying to stay awake until we finally got to board. I was so tired I had a fruit juice instead of Champagne (shock horror). But there was worse to come; I chose the light meal rather than the full three course meal because I just wanted to go to sleep! The light meal was a salad and smoked Halibut with asparagus and potato and garlic bread. The Halibut was very strongly flavoured so not the best choice. After the meal, finally, off to sleep. 6 glorious hours!

I woke up about 3 hours to go so I watched a couple of episodes of ‘Mars’, sadly a Discovery Channel docudrama; dumbest astronauts ever (or maybe second dumbest after the movie ‘Life’). Sigh. Breakfast was fruit, muesli and an omelette with potato’s, a sausage and bacon. Good enough.