Monday 9th July - To Hongkong and Heathrow

Monday 9th July

To Hongkong and Heathrow

We were up at 8:00am, got dressed and tidied up our stuff and then went to have a $10 breakfast in the restaurant.

One of Tolkien's Argonauts in Auckland Airport:

We paid our $2 ticket for the Yellow Bus Shuttle at 10:10.

It stopped at a variety of Hotels along the way, but we were at the airport by 10:30.

Our Cathay Pacific check-in counter was right down at the far end of the International departures area. We got our luggage checked in with a bit of help from a staff member. It was good to get rid of it and just be left with our cabin bags.

Got a cup of coffee and a scone to help fill in the time. At about 11:30 we went through International Departures passage way to Customs and the departure lounge – a long array of shops all wanting to sell duty free stuff to arrivals.

At 12:30 they began loading passengers onto the plane - an Airbus Industrie A350-900 

The Premium Economy area was certainly roomier than Economy, but still compact.

At 1:25pm we were off to Hongkong – an 11 hour flight! Hongkong airport was huge: one phot one way and the other the other - if you know what I mean:

We still had to go through their Customs procedures and luggage and personal scans. We didn’t have any Hongkong dollars so couldn’t get a coffee or cup of tea. We just waited in the transit lounge for the hour. After about ten minutes a long crocodile of about three classes of primary age Hongkong school children arrived with their teachers and minders  to get ready to board our plane. They were all very good clutching their passports and boarding passes.

At about 1100pm NZ time we were off on the last leg of our journey to Heathrow – another 11 hour journey! This time we were a little better off as our two seats were on their own by the exit door so we had all the leg room we wanted.