1) LONG DAY'S JOURNEY TO ASIA
Bali sounds like a wonderful place for a winter vacation, I say with all sincerity
“I am going to mourn by dead family members who perished in the Tsunami” he replies with tears in his eyes.
I have been seated next to the man in the Khaki suit for less than 3 minutes and already things are going irreparably badly. Only 23h and 42 minutes before I can leave the seat . . .
His English is terrible, we “talk” about the food, the weather, and he proceeds to “help” me find a good movie it watch on my personal monitor by pushing the buttons on my consul until he is satisfied I am viewing something suitable and of good quality.
Khaki man: Four Brothers – Very Bad movie
Me (I agree)
Khaki man: The Island – he doesn’t like the end when the bad guy dies
Me:(well now I don’t need to see it I guess),
Khaki: Friends Reruns -I feel sorry for the woman who’s husband runs away with a slut
Me: (he’s definitely Team Jen),
Khaki: a BBC documentary series about a man who is trying to start his own nation – rubbish!
Me: (I rather enjoyed it, especially the interview with the man who sells lunar property from upstate New York)
The crew from Toronto disembark when we refuel in Anchorage and are replaced by Cathay Pacific’s long-haul harpie brigade. Never has one shift of airline workers ever been so disgruntled or less inclined to make wan smiles at passengers.
We land in Hong Kong around 7:15am. Dipal waves at me madly as he heads to the Transfer desk. I begin my running-walk gait which will forever be known by me as the HKA shuffle.
Through some miracle, I am whisked through customs, collect my bag and then head back upstairs to the departure gates, purchase another ticket and reenter. The desk clerk at Cathay, another porcelain beauty with clipped English and a curt demeanour did not bat an eye when she sold me a ticket for a flight set to take off 15 minutes from the moment she tagged my lightly packed suitcase (17.2kg-
a personal best!) I proceeded to HKA shuffle to a credit card swipe internet stand, the Chinese customs exiting authority, the monorail to the departure gates and finally onwards to gate #78 (of 80).
Cathay dolls were placed throughout the terminal with signs baring my flight and destination with the words LAST CALL MISS AU – and I wondered as I lumbered along with each of them calling after me, yelling into walkie talkies, when they had time to print up such lovely signs and place themselves about the terminal when I had only just purchased a ticket. Efficiency should be the middle name of Cathay Airlines.
The plane is delayed 11 minutes on my behalf, yet there is chaos a foot in the cabin: the plane is taxiing down the runway and there are children running about unbuckled, airline attendants playing tug of war with passengers clutching parcels, the captain calling the chief steward over the loud speaker who is too busy to respond and I finally realize I am back in Asia.
“I am going to mourn by dead family members who perished in the Tsunami” he replies with tears in his eyes.
I have been seated next to the man in the Khaki suit for less than 3 minutes and already things are going irreparably badly. Only 23h and 42 minutes before I can leave the seat . . .
His English is terrible, we “talk” about the food, the weather, and he proceeds to “help” me find a good movie it watch on my personal monitor by pushing the buttons on my consul until he is satisfied I am viewing something suitable and of good quality.
Khaki man: Four Brothers – Very Bad movie
Me (I agree)
Khaki man: The Island – he doesn’t like the end when the bad guy dies
Me:(well now I don’t need to see it I guess),
Khaki: Friends Reruns -I feel sorry for the woman who’s husband runs away with a slut
Me: (he’s definitely Team Jen),
Khaki: a BBC documentary series about a man who is trying to start his own nation – rubbish!
Me: (I rather enjoyed it, especially the interview with the man who sells lunar property from upstate New York)
The crew from Toronto disembark when we refuel in Anchorage and are replaced by Cathay Pacific’s long-haul harpie brigade. Never has one shift of airline workers ever been so disgruntled or less inclined to make wan smiles at passengers.
We land in Hong Kong around 7:15am. Dipal waves at me madly as he heads to the Transfer desk. I begin my running-walk gait which will forever be known by me as the HKA shuffle.
Through some miracle, I am whisked through customs, collect my bag and then head back upstairs to the departure gates, purchase another ticket and reenter. The desk clerk at Cathay, another porcelain beauty with clipped English and a curt demeanour did not bat an eye when she sold me a ticket for a flight set to take off 15 minutes from the moment she tagged my lightly packed suitcase (17.2kg-
a personal best!) I proceeded to HKA shuffle to a credit card swipe internet stand, the Chinese customs exiting authority, the monorail to the departure gates and finally onwards to gate #78 (of 80).Cathay dolls were placed throughout the terminal with signs baring my flight and destination with the words LAST CALL MISS AU – and I wondered as I lumbered along with each of them calling after me, yelling into walkie talkies, when they had time to print up such lovely signs and place themselves about the terminal when I had only just purchased a ticket. Efficiency should be the middle name of Cathay Airlines.
The plane is delayed 11 minutes on my behalf, yet there is chaos a foot in the cabin: the plane is taxiing down the runway and there are children running about unbuckled, airline attendants playing tug of war with passengers clutching parcels, the captain calling the chief steward over the loud speaker who is too busy to respond and I finally realize I am back in Asia.
posted by C-travels @ 8:15 AM
1 Comments:
At 8:13 PM,
JTL in MTL said…
Hey, slowly working my way through. I sprained my ankle again today. Your post made me think of the last time I did that as I followed it up with a trans-pacific flight. But enough about me...Airplanes, geez. I was ushered through an airline terminal once, all last minute, escorted by stewardess, and when I boarded the plane...it was empty.
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