Saturday, March 8, 2008

Wow, What a Long Trip


It was eleven and a half hours from London to Hong Kong, got off the plane for about an hour, and then got back on to do over eight to Melbourne. Funny though psychologically for me it was easier, because from London to Hong Kong you are flying over land almost the entire time. I have always thought of traveling to Australia the way Americans travel, from the west coast of the U.S. which means most of the time you are flying over water. I don’t like flying over large bodies of water.

It was a full flight and I had a crappy window without a window seat so I could only see the cool stuff pointed out by the crew through the tiny sliver of a window of the seat in front of me. While those of us in “cattle class” could only check one bag, first class could check three! Bastards!

Thank God for the on-demand movie television options now available per seat. I watched two documentaries and four movies between London and Hong Kong!

Australia is very concerned about what people bring into the country. I had to declare a candy bar in my bag even though it was packaged which other countries seem to care less about. When leaving the aircraft you get a little “Feeling OK?” brochure because they are concerned about people bringing in illness as well.

It was 11:30pm by the time I found my taxi. As the doors of the airport opened to my first sight of Australia, I was hit by a cool summer breeze and I was ready to shed my winter jacket and English layers for the rest of the month.

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