We depart Australia via Brisbane Airport at 12.55am on Wednesday, August 30. Alan and Helen from next door kindly offer to take us to the bus station so we accept. We leave Toowoomba via Murray's Coach at 4pm and arrive at the airport just after 6.30pm so have lots of time to fill in before our flight. This is the latest bus from our hometown so c'ést la vie.
Firstly we find a nice little bar and I order a champagne and Tony a beer. We relax and ponder our journey. Then we have another! We buy some delicious sushi and eat it, then wander around the airport shops.
We are able to check in about 9.30pm but only on the machines to get our boarding passes and bag tags. After the final check in at the counter, we go through security. Tony shows some interest in whisky at the Duty Free and the guy offers him a taste of two different ones, though we say we'll only buy on our return. We buy coffee at one of the coffee outlets, a bad choice as it has very little of the real thing in it. Nice flavoured milk - do I detect a hint of coffee?
The Cathay Pacific crew members, women dressed smartly in their red suits, board the aircraft first. We line up later. This first leg is eight and a half hours, certainly long enough. I don't order gluten-free this time, even though I'm a coeliac, as it can limit my options so much, and as Tony says, just take my chances - eat what I can. This proves to be a good idea. Otherwise one misses out on the ice cream, fruit yoghurt and other yummy additions. The meals are delicious with lots of variety on the tray. Sadly no bread rolls for me.
We watch a few movies, sleep on and off for a few hours and this helps us recalibrate at the end of the journey. In fact I am surprised that I don't feel like a train wreck as usual at the end of a long flight. We move briskly to catch our connecting flight in Hong Kong.
Our twelve hour flight is definitely long but we survive. We sleep for a couple of hours but hardly well. What is more difficult for me is the long wait at Heathrow Airport as we inch our way in the queues for Immigration. Next time we'll be registered for a quick check-in where the crowds disperse quickly.
We take the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station, then get lost trying to find our way out of the station. Is it this way, no, it's that way... Help! How do we get outta here!? We've been to Paddington before. Jet lag perhaps. Finally on the road Tony impresses by knowing which way to go. We refer to the map several times along the way. It is difficult managing luggage along the uneven footpaths of London. But once in our hotel room we have a cup of tea, then off to bed for a few hours before dinner.