I was awake and out of bed very early for a 7:00am departure
to the airport. It doesn’t matter how
well organised you are, there’s always plenty to do on the morning you leave
home for a couple of months holiday. I
went through the pre-holiday checklist I have on the computer ticking all the
final boxes about fridge settings, rubbish disposal, security, tickets and
passport. My very reliable neighbour,
Joe Slack, was on time as usual to take me to the Hervey Bay Airport for the domestic
flight to Brisbane. The distance from Torbanlea
to Zurich is about 18,000km, so I had many hours flying and waiting around
airports ahead of me.
Upon booking in at Hervey Bay, Qantas was able to check me all
the way to Zurich, via Brisbane, Singapore and London. I was scheduled
to arrive in Zurich at 12:35pm (8:35pm Qld time) the next day, Fri 24 Aug
12. The actual travelling time from
leaving home to arriving in Zurich
was 37.5 hours. Strangely enough I was looking
forward to the journey as I love flying, and being plane watcher, airports are
such interesting places to be for me. That said I am always relieved to
arrive at the destination, particularly Europe
as it is such a long haul. It was time
to sit back and enjoy the ride. I could not remember having been so
relaxed about an overseas trip before. In fact since cutting all sugar
and some other stuff from my diet over 12 months ago, I could not recall being
so relaxed about life in general.
As I sat in the departure lounge in Hervey Bay
I thought; well the day to leave on my next cycling adventure has arrived. Even though I had commenced organizing the
trip mid 2011, it certainly crept up on me.
It was hard to believe that I was finally on my way.
I immediately relaxed after seeing my luggage disappear down
the carousel, I always feel this way for some reason. Maybe I am relieved to have the rather large
and awkward bike box and contents off my hands.
My bike, one pannier with most of my clothes, tools and wet-weather gear
were in the bike box. As hand luggage I had one pannier containing my iPad and some
clothes, and the handle-bar bag, containing glasses, blow-up travel pillow,
wet-ones, maps, notes, tickets and passport, as carry on luggage. The box weighted 22kg, upon check-in, a
little more than usual but okay considering that this includes most of my
luggage, the bike, tools and the Qantas cardboard box, which I had from the
return journey from Istanbul last year.
The flight from Hervey
Bay on a De Havilland Dash
8 (two props - 36 pax) was short (50 minutes) and uneventful. It took off right on schedule at 9:20am and
landed at 10:10am. The transfer to the
International Terminal and the processing through customs and immigration were smooth
and brief. I was sitting at the Qantas
Club sipping on a nice cup of green tea before I knew it.
At 1:00pm we were called to board the Qantas 747 for Singapore. As I did I noticed its name, ‘Hervey Bay’,
how appropriate. Good flight but about 2 hours out of Singapore I got
a terrible pain in my stomach.
I wasn’t sick, just an ache and awful rumbles that felt like I had eaten
something bad. I was confident that it
wasn’t going to make me sick and it didn’t, settling down just before we
arrived in Singapore
on schedule at 7:30pm. Airlines food is
so dodgy sometimes; lucky I have the constitution of an ox.
As I was walking off the aircraft I was greeted by Qantas ground
staff with the news that the plane that was supposed to take us to London had mechanical problems and was stuck in Sydney. They said
that there would be at least an extra 6 hours waiting, on top of the scheduled
3.5 hours. The joys of travel! I was thinking about my connection
to Zurich the
next day and whether I would be able to get a flight from Heathrow. I had a motel booked from Friday night.
It’s times like this that membership of the Qantas Club pays
its way. The one in Singapore is well stocked with
food, drink, internet and great facilities.
And when you are delayed as a QC member they really make sure you are
well looked after. At midnight local
time the Qantas Club lounge was closed and they moved the 8 passengers waiting
for the delayed aircraft to the First Class Lounge. We were all able to find an empty lounge and
stretch out for a sleep. The staff were very good, providing everyone with
blankets and asking if they could do anything for us. I also took the opportunity to look
around the airport late at night while it was quiet.
The staff also took my boarding passes and passport away
and later returned them with a revised departure time out of London of 1:20pm Friday, (previously
9:55am). I thought at least if I was
able to make that flight I would still arrive in Zurich on the scheduled day. They also told us that the new departure time
for QF1, Singapore to London was 6:00am. However,
although flight QF1 must had left Sydney
by that time I could not see it on my Flight Radar iPhone app. At this stage I was still very relaxed as I
feel there is no point in getting upset about delays that are beyond your
control when travelling. I managed a couple of hours of disturbed sleep
due to the constant movement of staff and the very bright lights that were on
in the club. Eventually left Singapore on
time at 6:00am aboard the double-decker A380 Airbus, the largest passenger
aircraft in the world.
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