Monday 16 May 2005 - Wellington/Auckland/Hong Kong
Michael's World goes global today - this post is written at Hong Kong International Airport. Tomorrows post will be from London.
Woke up at 4.30am and couldn't get back to sleep, was so excited. Chaucey got a better nights sleep than recently. At 5.30am I was still awake so I read a book until 6.15am then had a shower. Rose collected us at 7.15am and we were at the airport at 8.20am. Big thanks to Rose.
About 20 mins later Dad and Jeanne arrived for their flight to Dunedin so we talked until we had to go to the gate for departure to Auckland. The flight was uneventful - except for the delicious blueberry and cream cheese pikelet. (Yum!)
In Auckland I gave the BNZ staff a hard time as we changed Australian and New Zealand dollars given to us at the weekend to Pounds. Just proves that staff make the worst customers. Once we were through customs we had no problems and boarded our flight to Hong Kong.
The flight hit some rough winds over the Tasman just after we finished lunch so we had airline food trays on our laps for an hour before being cleared. The route went right over Cairns in Northern Queensland and then the Gulf of Carpentaria. We flew over Indonesia and the Phillipines before getting a wonderful view of Hong Kong at night when we arrived.
On arrival in Hong Kong the tempature was 30 degrees - that was at 9pm. I got confused about our flight arrangements and almost ended up going to the wrong airline desk. However, I noticed in time and we got ourselves sorted.
Hong Kong airport is impressive. It's so big it has a rail service to take passengers from check-in to the gates at the far end. We used the train to go to a place where you can have a shower - cost is HKD65 each, but worth it. We had a snack at the Burger King - we shared some fries and a drink so got the large portions. Turned out to be US style 'Super-size me' size. Strangely, in Hong Kong when you order a diet coke you get a 'Diet Coke with Lemon' flavour. (It happened on the plane as well.)
We are now waiting to board the flight to London. The plan is to sleep through the flight and get into sync with Europe time as we are due to arrive at Heathrow around 6am.
Will post again tomorrow.
Woke up at 4.30am and couldn't get back to sleep, was so excited. Chaucey got a better nights sleep than recently. At 5.30am I was still awake so I read a book until 6.15am then had a shower. Rose collected us at 7.15am and we were at the airport at 8.20am. Big thanks to Rose.
About 20 mins later Dad and Jeanne arrived for their flight to Dunedin so we talked until we had to go to the gate for departure to Auckland. The flight was uneventful - except for the delicious blueberry and cream cheese pikelet. (Yum!)
In Auckland I gave the BNZ staff a hard time as we changed Australian and New Zealand dollars given to us at the weekend to Pounds. Just proves that staff make the worst customers. Once we were through customs we had no problems and boarded our flight to Hong Kong.
The flight hit some rough winds over the Tasman just after we finished lunch so we had airline food trays on our laps for an hour before being cleared. The route went right over Cairns in Northern Queensland and then the Gulf of Carpentaria. We flew over Indonesia and the Phillipines before getting a wonderful view of Hong Kong at night when we arrived.
On arrival in Hong Kong the tempature was 30 degrees - that was at 9pm. I got confused about our flight arrangements and almost ended up going to the wrong airline desk. However, I noticed in time and we got ourselves sorted.
Hong Kong airport is impressive. It's so big it has a rail service to take passengers from check-in to the gates at the far end. We used the train to go to a place where you can have a shower - cost is HKD65 each, but worth it. We had a snack at the Burger King - we shared some fries and a drink so got the large portions. Turned out to be US style 'Super-size me' size. Strangely, in Hong Kong when you order a diet coke you get a 'Diet Coke with Lemon' flavour. (It happened on the plane as well.)
We are now waiting to board the flight to London. The plan is to sleep through the flight and get into sync with Europe time as we are due to arrive at Heathrow around 6am.
Will post again tomorrow.
posted by Michael at
11:00 PM
2 Comments:
If you are ever in HK again - with the diet coke thing, you have to ask specifically first for coke then say light or diet very clearly.
Otherwise - yep - they confuse the accent and give you lemon - or worse still lime or cherry coke..
Funny how that ordering something so universal as a coke can be fucked up worldwide through interpretation error.
By
Cathy Odgers, at 9:28 PM
Hi Michael and Chaucey,
congratulations again on your wedding. It was such a wonderful weekend and now you are finally away on your fantastic honeymoon! Can't wait to catch up on all the exciting stuff you are going to get up to over the next few weeks :)
Lots of love from your big sis (and Norm)
By
Cath Ellis, at 9:29 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home