It's a full day of flying. I've already been in the air almost 14 hours and have another 4 to go I've sat for 5 hours in airports waiting for and boarding flights and have another couple of hours for the Hong Kong to Kaula Lumpur leg which has been delayed. That adds up to over 24 hours of boredom, static cling, stale dry air and crappy uncomfortable sleep. On the HK fight the highlight was an unoccupied middle seat between us. Having that seat occupied would have made that flight seem much longer than the 13+ hours already was. The flight route was interesting going over Alaska, across the Bering Straight to Russia and then over China. I would have thought the route would be more southernly.
My sister Syl dropped me off at 7:30 (almost 22 hours ago) this morning for the VIctoria to Vancouver leg where I met up with Judith. She had flown out from Toronto the day before.
Today was 9/11. Sixteen years ago, the unthinkable happened and changed aviation security forever. The 9/11 anniversary is in my thoughts all day...
The on board entertainment screen had a small graph that has a plane moving along a fixed line to indicate how far you've traveled and how much further you have in your flight. On this 13+ hour flight, it's a constant source of disappointment as it's a reminder that you're stuck there for an insanely long time. I'll welcome the day when teleportation becomes an option.
The in flight movies are a great option, but only if you don't doze off in the middle of them as I am prone to do. And my concentration level gets worse the longer I'm on the flight.
We knew we had a tight connection to catch the KL flight. We got off the plane and when we came out of the gate area there was a young man in a suit holding a sign with our names on it. We quickly discover that he is one of 5 staff that are waiting for Judith and I to get off the plane in order to make our uber tight connection. We find out that one of them is a supervisor with four trainees. We have 10 minutes to make the connection so we hightail through the terminal down escalators, into a subway connector, up an escalator to the transfer desk to get our boarding pass. There is absolutely no way we would have navigated the HK airport maze to make this connection without help. At the transfer booth to pick up our boarding pass, we discover the plane is delayed but until then it was exciting and highly entertaining speed walking through the terminal escorted in front and back by these uniformed officials.
We got to the gate in plenty of time as the flight was now delayed by about 30 minutes. It was there I broke into the bag of popcorn that I had brought to sustain me.
Day 2
The flight to KL was uneventful. While we were glad it was about 30 minutes late to board, it also ended in a longer delay getting to our hotel, 65 km away from the airport (about an hour's drive). We're staying in the Traders Hotel which is supposed to be swank. I'm sure our opinion would be higher but they couldn't find our reservation (we had to guarantee the room with a credit card until the reservation department opens tomorrow) and we ended up in a stinky smoking room (which they tried to fix with Febreeze but the smell is back).
Here are the obligatory room pictures.
The chair by the window is very low. I swear Judith's knees come up to her shoulders when she sits in it.
The bathroom has cool under lighting on the sink counter. And our view includes the famous Petronas Towers.
It's now the next day about 11:00 am Pacific Standard Time. It's been a long day, even by my standards.
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