The Longest Day

The Longest Day

We had everything packed up and ready to go before lunch. After that, it was just a case of whiling away time until the limousine pick-up at 4 o’clock. A quick drive to the airport, a speedy check-in, a last sandwich at Tim Horton’s and we’re off on our journey. The flight to Vancouver was uneventful other than the disappointment that the Canucks lost the hockey game. Interesting to be able to watch game seven while in flight. How things have changed.
We arrived in Vancouver by 9 pm and it was surprising how dead the airport terminal was. Nor a lot of people moving and not a lot of joy. We did get to hear and see incessant reports of the violence in downtown Vancouver until our flight to Beijing left at 3 am. Not sure how bad the situation really was and how much was media hype in the immediate aftermath. There certainly was no mention of it around the Beijing terminal and Saturday’s Malaysian newspaper didn’t have any coverage either. ;-)
The flight to Beijing was long but uneventful. Sleep eluded me but I was able to watch four movies–‘Unstoppable’, ‘RED’, ‘The Social Club’ and ‘Secretariat’. Pretty neat since the Air China plane was equipped with personal video screens so I could watch the movies at my own discretion. Not sure why we had to pass through Chinese immigration in Beijing (and, again, later in Hong Kong) since we were just transiting through and didn’t get out of the airport terminal. However, one doesn’t question (especially when you can’t speak the language and especially in China).
Another 3 hour wait in the Beijing terminal and we pick up another Air China flight to Hong Kong - a 3 ½ hour flight this time. Real good introduction to being a visible minority - there were only about 4-5 Caucasians on the plane - with English announcements secondary and heavily inflected. A constant barrage between Doreen and I of ‘What did she say?’ On the other hand, the food’s been good so far and the service, while somewhat lacking in personality, has been very professional.
We had a six-hour layover in Hong Kong and had debated whether we could take the tram ride to the top of the mountain. Good thing we hadn’t made any commitments. We spent the bulk of the time schlepping our bags from Terminal 1 (where we arrived and departed) to Terminal 2 (where Air Asia’s check-in counter was). It’s only a 10 minute walk but it’s a pain with a luggage cart. Turned out the Air Asia ticket/check-in counter doesn’t open until about 2 hours before flight time. Were we the only flight they had that day?
By the time we finally checked in and got rid of the big bags, we barely had time to grab something to eat before our flight left. Air Asia is a low-cost airline and we hadn’t paid for a meal. As it turned out, we had some extra time as the flight was delayed due to non-arrival of the aircraft. When we did get on-board, we found that the travel board complaints about Air Asia were well justified. The seating was seriously cramped. Not a good way to be ending this journey. I’m beginning to feel the effects of so many time zones traveled.
We had a long wait at Malaysian immigration - picked the wrong line again. The agent was slow and picky and there were a couple of suspicious ladies ahead of us who were subjected to extensive questioning before being taken aside. Malaysia is apparently having some serious problems with illegal immigration. When we finally reached the counter, we were quickly processed and fingerprinted.
Then it was off to collect our luggage, pass through Customs and pick up a voucher for a taxi to take us to our hotel. It was an hour’s ride to the Hotel Impiana, which looks like a nice place. Check-in was smooth and quick. We finally get to our room and have barely enough energy to slip into some pj’s and fall into bed. Unpacking can wait till tomorrow. It’s 1 am on Saturday - that’s 43 hours total transit time since we left for the airport in Toronto. Are we crazy?

On the Eve of Raja Ampat

On the Eve of Raja Ampat (but, hopefully, not the Eve of Destruction)

Hard to believe I haven’t posted to this blog since Cuba in June, 2010. We’ve been on the go a lot - mainly trips to Atlanta to spend time with the grandkids or to visit Doreen's sister in Virginia. We did get back to Cuba with Laurie and Sandy in January - two weeks at Brisas Trinidad del Mar. Don’t know why I didn’t have any commentary on that except that Internet access in Cuba is the pits. We also did spring break in Florida with the grandkids. That was a great week.
Now, we’re sitting around waiting for the limousine to take us to the airport this afternoon. Doreen has worked hard to put together an amazing trip. We’re going to spend 12 days on a live-aboard snorkel boat in the Raja Ampat Islands of Indonesia which are reputed to be among the world’s best snorkeling sites. Should be wonderful. We’re hooked up with a group of Americans from the San Diego area who did this trip last year and are back for an encore.
We’ll have a few days in Kuala Lumpur at the beginning and end of our trip. After the snorkel tour, we have a week to explore Bali (and for Doreen to check out the batiks). Then we do Western Australia for a week to snorkel the Ningaloo Reef. A few more items off our bucket list.
The only drawback is that these places are half-way around the world. We leave here this afternoon and arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 10 o’clock on Friday night (a day lost to the Date Line). Along the way, we have a 6 hour layover in Vancouver, a 3 hour layover in Beijing and a 6 hour layover in Hong Kong. We should be able to sleep by the time we get to our hotel in Kuala Lumpur. ;-)
We have the same thing on the way back since we leave Kuala Lumpur at 7 on Saturday morning and arrive in Toronto at 6 on Sunday morning (having regained our day at the Date Line). This time the Hong Kong layover is also 6 hours, Beijing is 2 ½ and Vancouver is 3 ½. Interestingly, we leave Beijing at 11:30 pm and arrive in Vancouver at 7:30 pm that same day. How’s that for screwing up your body?