Barb & John's Hols: UK Trip Day 1 travelling to Susan's place

Arriving in Great Chesterford

We flew out of Brisbane in the small hours of the morning on Sunday 21st May. It was our first time travelling on the Airbus A350 (Cathay Pacific) and we were really quite impressed at the seating in economy. Sufficient legroom for Barb's long legs, and the extending headrest also catered for tall people. Yay! We were also lucky enough to be sitting in a row of three with a spare seat in between us. Bliss! Both of us actually managed a couple of hours sleep on the plane.

Our stopover in Hong Kong was a great bonus because of its extreme brevity. There was enough time to traverse the very long corridors to the transfer lounge, swill down a Starbucks coffee (good grief - is this weakly flavoured hot milk what constitutes a Starbucks coffee?) and then it was time to board for the next leg.

Hazy Hong Kong

Waiting at the departure lounge in Hong Kong

Barb enjoying her Starbuck's coffee (Enjoy? Hrrmph!)

Hong Kong airport ... home of the long travellator

On the second leg we were not so lucky. The plane was very full and we had a young teenage lad squeezed in beside us in our row of three. Not much fun for him either! It was also an older plane and the seats were not nearly as generous or comfortable as the A350. We did manage to catch up on some late release movies which we'd missed before. "La La Land" failed to impress us greatly, but Barb really enjoyed "Lion" and even had a little weep (which means she REALLY liked it).

Halfway through the flight John was asleep when an alarm sounded on the plane and there appeared to be a bit of a kerfuffle going on in the section of the plane in front of us. Barb was quite worried and alarmed herself as she thought it sounded like a fire alarm. She woke John. Fortunately there was no smoke evident and everything appeared to calm down and Barb was finally convinced to relax.

However when we landed at Heathrow the captain made an announcement for everyone to stay seated so the police could board the plane and escort off a passenger (who looked rather like a Bart Simpson character with his dyed yellow hair). The man was sobbing as he was taken away and marched through boarder control between several armed police officers. Reading between the lines we think he may have been either drunk and disorderly and/or been smoking in the toilets, which would explain the alarm in the middle of the flight.

John's sister Susan was waiting for us as we emerged from customs at Heathrow, looking very pleased to see us. We drove home to Essex enjoying the gorgeous scenery of the Essex countryside on a beautiful fine summers day .... young lambs in the lush green fields (lamb chops on the hoof according to Susan), pretty roadside flowers .... what could be more English? Geoffrey was waiting at home with their two golden retrievers, Daisy (11) and Bella (8). We were given a very joyous welcome by the dogs whom we've known since they were puppies, but have only seen every couple of years since then. They always pretend to remember us and vie for pats and cuddles eagerly.

We were pretty tired after our long journey, but at least arriving in the late afternoon/evening meant we could have an early night and wake up refreshed next morning.