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DAY 2 - Tuesday, 24 May
Flying: Hong Kong to London
The next thing I knew, I awoke to the humming engines, flicked on my light and saw it was already 4.45am HKG time, so feeling somewhat refreshed checked on my daughter, wife and son (who were all, not unexpectedly, still sleeping). I went to get changed back into my clothes (changing into a fresh t-shirt I had packed for the next sector) and went back to await the awakening from slumber of my family.
About half an hour later, the cabin lights were turned up and the sounds and smells of breakfast (as we were so close to the galley) soon helped them all wake up. I asked the CSD John to bring my daughters breakfast first and delay mine until she was well into eating hers - that was usual at home, given she ate much slower than me.
Breakfast: Museli with skim milk, orange juice and tropical fruit platter (plus the obligatory cuppa)
The staggering worked, as we both finished the meal at about the same time. I then looked into my wife's seat, saw she was struggling a little with feeding our son (who hadn't woken up happy, as he'd had about 6 hours less sleep than normal to this point), so I took my daughter to the bathroom and put her into a change of clothes.
The rest of the flight and landing was uneventful, but it was pleasing to show my daughter the sights of Hong Kong Airport as we landed, including some airplanes awaiting take-off). We packed up our belongings and followed the transit passenger signs, as we already had our BP's for this sector. Now it was all about finding our next Gate and the closest Cathay Lounge.
As I hadn't travelled international long haul for a long time (3 years) I had been smart enough to check with NM, about the Cathay Lounges about a week before our flights. We headed up the lift to the departures area and took the kids on the travelator to let them stretch their legs.
[At this point, my iPhone battery died, so I started taking photo's with my daughters iPhone, better remember to download them so they can be posted]
The information post beside Gate 20 showed the airport layout, gates and Lounges. We had already sourced that our next flight was going from Gate 68 using the monitors and found that two of the Cathay Lounges, as well as the QF one, were all in this area, too far from our departure Gate, thus ruling out a Lounge hop. We chose to head directly to CX's The Pier Lounge, outside Gate 63, which suited our needs perfectly - after all, some relaxing, a shower and some more food was in order during this 3 hour layover.
We entered the Lounge by flashing our BP's and wow, we were impressed so we checked it out. I firstly went to the CS Desk to ask whether our seats were the best for a family group to sit, considering CX's herringbone seating arrangement in J. The CSA advised that with our current positions, it would be hard for us to see our daughter in her seat, so she showed me the seatmap and advised the available seats and recommended I move to 17D to which I agreed and she printed out a new BP.
As I was doing this, my wife had wandered around with the kids and came back saying she had spotted Colin Firth - one of her heart throbs. We then took the kids to the far left hand seating near the food area and the noodle bar to have breakfast. We soon added to the meagre QF breakfast and I took both the kids for a long walk to check out the different seating areas, the internet section and the showers. As there was a short delay for the showers, I took the proffered buzzer and went back to my seat to get my toiletries and fresh clothes for my son, who was going to have a shower with me.
After the buzzer went off, we walked back and the attendant showed us to the last shower cubicle on the left. Actually, it is better described as a shower and bathroom - well appointed and freshly cleaned and dried. Unfortunately, my son continued his dislike for showers and I'm sure others heard his protestations and wondered what I was doing to him. Aaaahhh, nothing better than a shower to clense away hours of flying and perk up the soul for the longest sector today. Even my son became happier after getting in his fresh clothes and keep doing one of his favourite tricks (pulling up his shirt to show his belly) to any and all in the Lounge on our return.
We then re-packed our backpacks and waited for the expected boarding time. We then checked the closest screen, saw it was "boarding", loaded up and departed for Gate 68. When we arrived, we found boarding hadn't started so I wandered around with the kids, showing them planes at neighbouring gates and the Cathay plane that would take us to LHR.
Finally, boarding was opened and the usual scrum happened in the Economy queue, whilst we bypassed it and entered the Business line. I'm sure that quite a few were surprised given we had very young children or thought that we were in the wrong line and would be turned back. We were greeted by the CSA, who fed our BP's into the reader and checked our passports (English for my wife and kids and my Irish passports). We had a beep but that was only my son's BP as he was an infant with no seat, so once they had that confirmed we were on our way down the airbridge and on board.
CX257 HKG/LHR Depart: 9.40am
Aircraft type: Boeing 773
Class: Business (16A, 16D and 17D)
FA: Grace (x2), Apple
As soon as we walked on board, we were greeted by the CSD and led to our seats by our FA, Apple, who then helped us with our children whilst we put up our backpacks into the overheads lockers. She then went back to greet other pax, but came back when all were on to offer us the usual pre-flight drink - to which this time I chose water.
As we were on a 14 hour day-time flight, we thought that it was best to try and get our son to sleep twice and our daughter once during the flight. We hoped that as we were arriving at 4pm, by the time we arrived at our hotel, they would be ready to sleep again and we would have little jet lag for the start of our 3 days in London.
Meals - see CX Menu and photo's on my daughters' iPhone (TO BE POSTED)
Our son slept well on our first attempt at putting him to bed (with his mother) after the first meal served. She was able to do some reading and I caught up on some sports programs and reviewed our upcoming week in England, with the hotel, train and car hire print-outs.
I took them both for walks individually throughout the plane during the flight and often went to the rear galley, given it seemed bigger than the J galley and was the longest walk. Both my wife and I agreed after a couple of trips down the back, that we don't know how we would have coped doing this sector in Y.
In the second sleep period for our son, I went across and sat with my daughter and watched some of her programs - always nice to sit with her and share time and a laugh. We were able to say that she had watched everything on the childrens program, so it was fortunate that we didn't have another CX sector soon.
This flight highlighted for me, as well as for my wife, the gulf of difference between the service standards and attitudes of FA's when directly compared to our previous flight on QF. I loved the hierarchy and dress colour of the uniforms between the FA, Purser and CSD on CX, as it made it simple to distinguish between them. We were just so impressed with the attitude of them working together for servicing the pax, markedly different to our previous flight. I wouldn't call it a subservient system on CX, rather decrying the surly attitude of some of the Australian QF staff as nothing was too much trouble for the CX crew, no matter what it was, or who it was from, or even when. They explained everything simply to my daughter, for whom International J was a new experience.
We actually loved the CX seating, as we all had privacy and this allowed us to spend time with both kids individually and gave my daughter a break from her brother as she was across the aisle from us. She soon discovered CX Studio and the kids programs - we then hardly heard from her throughout the flight, apart from when she wanted one of us to put on another program.
Before landing, the CSD came to check whether we were stopping in London and what passports we were travelling. She gave us the hot pink premium passenger brochure for the Fast Track Arrivals Lane. However given we were using our EU passports, we weren't sure whether that lane would be any quicker than the EU lane also due to the fact that we didn't need to complete any arrival paperwork.
The captain came on to advise the arrival weather and advise that he would be starting the descent in 5 minutes, so we re-packed our bags with the things used during the flight and put away the entertainment system, much to the chagrin of my daughter. Touchdown was smooth and soon we were passing planes from carriers not seen in Australia, like Swiss, Aeroflot, Bmi and we pulled up next to an Iranian 744 at the next Gate. We fondly bid farewell to the crew and to the plane which had been our home for the last 13 hours and 15 minutes.
The fortunate thing about premium classes of travel is the ability to get to C&I first. We hit the EU line which was processing pax fairly quickly and was only 30 or 40 long, with mostly couples or families. I organised the passports to be opened on the photo page whilst my wife tried hard not to lose our kids who were revelling being on the ground with more space to run around. She rounded them up from running through the crowd control tapes (my son managed to bring two down which halted his progress and alerted everybody to our presence) and we fronted the female officer who had a cursory glance at each of our passports before we were through.
We made our way to the baggage belts and found our flight details on the monitor. I collected a trolley and whilst our bags were through quickly, we had to wait a little time for the pram to appear from the over-sized baggage area. In this time, I noticed that the carry handle on one of our bags was broken - looks like somewhere between BNE, SYD, HKG or LHR a handler had lifted the bag using the top handle instead of the side one which is constructed better for the heavier loads and it had popped out (see photo). I went to the Baggage Services area and asked the QF rep whether there was a CX rep to report a baggage claim. The QF rep said he wasn't there at the moment but happily called him in his mobile and said he was in the Terminal and would be "back in 5". Famous words indeed, but was that like the proverbial country mile?
Sure enough he turned up almost on time and I explained the issue, showed him the broken handle in our blue Samsonite (see photo) and then he told be that it could be fixed by early next week. When I told him our Itinerary (whilst explaining it he saw my J class BP in my top pocket), he realised that his window of opportunity to get it back to us was very slim and he offered to replace our bag on the spot. He took me out into an ante-room where there were 3 shelves of bags and told me to take my pick. It was like being in Sideshow Alley.
I considered the options and chose two that were of similar or slightly larger size than our broken one (albeit both were black - the most common colour of all bags and the one most easily mistaken) then recommended that my wife come in and be part of the process as well (after all, if she didn't like the bag I chose, I'd never hear the end of it). I told her on my way out that I had chosen two that I had pulled forward to see if she agreed with one of my choices.
After due consideration we chose a slightly larger bag (American Tourister), allowing us to either put our broken bag into it or to repack our contents into the newer bigger bag leaving additional space to buy stuff whilst we were away. It was my wife's bag they had broken so she was wroth to throw it away now, in case it could be fixed later (or used as a third bag for our return journey). I liked her thinking, but I was the one who had to manage 3 bags - not a feat I'd successfully achieved previously. Still, a happy wife is a happy life, so I agreed and we checked to see that our blue bag fitted inside the new one - it did with an inch to spare all round. In fact, that was a bonus, as our other bag was smaller, thus we had additional choices for which bag was carried inside the Tourister.
By now, we were ready to exit Heathrow and so out the far green exit we tried to go, only to find that it was closed and everybody was exiting through the red channel door. Not concerned, we swiftly made it to the exit and escaped into the heaving mass of pax, touts and the waiting throng of other peoples' family and friends.
We started looking for the Underground signs and our next mode of transport (Heathrow Connect to Paddington), the tickets for which I had purchased from their website last week (after waiting for a Groupon discount offer over the past month, but not having any success). Still, £17 for two and kids travelling for free, it was a good deal in itself. When we had compared this limited express option against Heathrow Express, we just couldn't justify the additional cost and being leisure travellers, felt the saving in cost was better than a slightly longer journey time.
After the never-ending walk through the maze of tunnels to the ticket area, we found the Connect machine and followed the instructions by entering the reference number. As expected, out printed our 2 x Adult Standard Singles and we were off. We went down in the elevator, only to find as we approached the platform that one train was just pulling out. Not wanting to run with the kids and still having to get the luggage off the trolley, we let it go and were prepared to wait for the next train (only 20 mins). In that time, I unloaded our luggage onto the platform and took my daughter for a slow spin on the trolley whilst my wife sat with the bag and my son in the stroller. Time went quickly and soon we could feel and hear the oncoming air of the approaching train (as well as hear the announcement). On we loaded everything and sat down with relief that we were on the final curve of this long journey. By now, I think we were all ready for some dinner and a slumber akin to the dead.
We were fortunate to gain access to the seats close to the door, this made a big difference having my son in a stroller. After the first stop, a conductor came through checking tickets and looked at ours, signing them and giving back. Even though there were only 5 stops to Paddington, the carriage became crowded but thankfully thinned by the time we got to Paddington. Getting off the train at the platform (I think it was 17) we looked around for an exit and used the wide exit point by displaying our tickets. We walked up a narrow street to a set of lights at a cross street and saw the whitest black cab I've seen. As he was stopped at the lights and was empty, we crossed on the green walk sign and asked him if he was available. He nodded, put his hazard lights on and helped me load the big bags into the front seat next to him, whilst my wife organised the kids into the back (with my son still in the pram, we turned him to face us and put the brakes on). My daughter thought this was great (as we had told her she was going to get a taxi, but not one she'd ever seen). I gave the cabbie the address of our hotel, he nodded and off we went through the streets. My daughter was thrilled to see her first red double decker bus and knew that she really had left home!
We arrived at the Hotel and were greeted by Concierge who assisted us in unpacking the cab as I paid the driver and walked inside to see that my wife had organised the kids into the corner sofa, whilst I checked us in.
Hotel: London Mayfair Holiday Inn
Room Type: 2 Double Beds (+ cot)
Nights: 3 (In 24 May, Out 27 May)
Room Rate: Award Stay (3 x 20K plus $40 per night)
I joined the PC members line on the right with only 1 lady in front of me (from the sounds of her questions, a tour club member checking in with others at the same time). I was greeted by Arpa, to whom I gave my PC card and CC, as well as the print out of the reservation confirmation. She was very cheerful and quickly confirmed all the details. We were given a room on the 6th floor (our Gold upgrade to a high floor) and a run down of the breakfast times and the restaurant & bar (which is just past Reception). I thanked her for the complete information and cheerfully went back to my family to get them up finally into a room where we could catch up on some much needed sleep. We caught the lift up to our floor and had our first taste of a London hotel. My wife and I were surprised with the narrow dark corridor and carpet and the state of the doorways and running boards but there were signs that they were being updated.
We opened the door and whilst the room was filled with beds (2 doubles and a cot),
we were pleasantly surprised that it was very functional and all that we needed - we didn't expect to be in the room much during the day. So after organising our bags, we turned to go outside to find a quick meal.
After walking to the corner, we turned left into Picadilly and looked down side streets until we saw an Italian restaurant and after looking at the menu, decided it would do, so in we went and asked for a table for 4. As our son was tiring (but my daughter moreso), we thought we'd settle for a pizza. It wasn't long before my daughter and I had begun a game of lining up the sugar sachets to keep her occupied, but before the meal even arrived she complained that she was tired and climbed back into the pram and promptly fell asleep. That put our dinner plans on hold, so when the pizza arrived we quickly ate, saved some pieces for her to eat later, paid the bill and walked back to the hotel. We woke her up to have one piece, clean her teeth and we all went to bed together around 8.45pm.
Sent from my iPhone using Aust Freq Fly app
It must be tricky to organise the family through multiple airports and aircraft.
