Am writing this post from Hong Kong airport en route to Sydney on the first big leg of my trip – a whopping 12 hour flight time, followed by a one hour stop over in HK, and then another 8.5 hrs onwards to Sydney – phew!
London’s now come and gone – and yet again the weather stayed it’s usual grey standard affair – although the temperature seemed to jump around a bit. Christmas was a quiet affair due to the whole family seemingly spending their whole time in one of two hospitals – either with my grandmother in South London, or my poor uncle Rogelio in North London – who finally passed away on the 23rd December at 12:15pm – although I was sad to see him pass, there was comfort in his passing quietly and surrounded by friends and family throughout his ordeal – he was a great and wonderful guy, and will be sorely missed by all.
So it was actually with some sense of relief I guess that I eventually left London and made my trip out to Heathrow. The Virgin Upper Class treatment there really is second to none now. You check in at the usual separate desk – but they then direct you to a private elevator to take you up a floor, where you scan your boarding pass at a rather non-descript area on the wall, to then have a very Bond-esque glass wall open up to let you into a private corridor and security check which whizzes you past all the normal lines of people into the main shopping area. From there it’s a short walk to the Upper Class lounge which is truly in a class of its own.
 The Virgin Upper Class in London's Heath... |
The Lounge is sort of separated into several different themes – from a sort of 70s inspired quiet area, to a trendy blue-lit chill out lounge, to a massive screened TV section, a library, a brasserie and bistro, and the piece de resistance – the spa area offering each passenger a treatment of their choice including the usual pedicures, manicures, spa pool dips, shoulder massages, etc etc etc… I chose to go for a quick trim of the ol’ noggin and got duly booked in and headed to the chill out area to get some dinner and a “Vesper Martini” – supposedly the new Bond’s drink of choice although I don’t remember him drinking it in the movie – 3 parts gin, one part Vodka, and then something other than Vermouth whose name escapes me – I have to say it was indeed rather yummy though!
 The Virgin Upper Class Clubhouse in Lond... |
Chilled, filled, and shorn like a sheep to my now familiar “#1 all-round” look (good thing bald seems to be in fashion nowadays the way my hair is going!) – it was time to get on the plane – pretty much the same set up as for the Boston-London leg, only on a longer plane and thus a longer trip to the bar for me once we got air bound. A discussion with my air stewardess and with the bartender suggested that the best tactic to get over the massive jetlag (+11hrs from London and +16 from Boston!) was to try and get onto Aussie time zones as soon as possible which would mean minimal sleep on the first leg, followed by a good long snooze on the second flight. With that in mind I managed to get away with about 2-3 hrs sleep (I think) on the first flight and am looking forward to some good ol catch up on the second – let’s see if the tactic worked!
 Surfer Girl - she'll be taking me to Oz |
Hong Kong airport wasn’t as radical and cool as I remember it from my first trip here in 1997 when it was still brand new – essentially looks like a massive airplane hanger about a mile long (or so it seemed) – with the odd shopping area clumped together at intervals – despite looking around, I struggled to find something tempting to buy and proceeded quickly to the Upper Class lounge hoping to find something of more interest there to while away the hour and a half in-between flights. After the splendour of London’s clubhouse, the HK one, although nice, was a little disappointing – nicely perched one floor up with a balcony overlooking my gate, a well stocked bar, internet, a bank of 3 playstations, and showers seemed to be the highlight of that Lounge – no pictures this time…
So it’s on to Sydney now – am pretty excited and after reading the LP guide in more detail, I’ve quickly come to the conclusion that I should’ve spent at least one or two more days in Sydney – there seems to be a fair amount to see around Sydney as well as in – so I guess I’ll have to try and do a power tour tomorrow when I get in and see as much as possible then – at least I’ll be coming back later in the month!
Right – on to the plane and off to bed! G’night!
