Journey to the other side of the world

I awoke to see two large eyes, a huge smile and felt some gentle muzzling on my neck. So I kicked the moggy off the bed and woke Lucy to see if she wanted to make me a cup of coffee.

Breakfast at Chez Gerrard in town and everything is going well on day one. Taxi is due at 3.00pm. United are one up at Stoke, here we go. Five past three..ten past three, (Stoke equalise.. ). Lucy rings Star Taxis and they know nothing about picking us up even though we had email confirmation and a ref no. Lucy is fuming, tells the taxi firm to sod off and I am hiding behind the couch as she tries to book another. Come on fellas, we rule the roost only when the scary ones allow us to eh?

An M25 traffic jam later and we are fast tracking into the business class lounge. Jesus. Free food everywhere, free Champagne, wine and comfy armchairs, oh how the other half live. Boarding is quick and when I handed the stewardess the ticket she curtseyed as she directed me upstairs. God knows what she would have done if I had had a first class ticket. As the wife is with me I don’t want to find out.



Not so sure about the beard. The breakfast was great though



The seats are fantastic, I have loads of space, lockers, a plug for my laptop and a tv with loads of music, games and videos to chose from. My seat stretches out into a flat bed.


Whose are those size ten feet ?


Wow, after a lovely meal with real crockery and a few free beers I decided to pop downstairs and take a look at the plebs all scrunched up and dribbling on each others shoulders as they try to grab a few minutes of restless sleep, then I stretch out, ask the stewardess to put my blanket over me and fell into an untroubled sleep.

Next stop Hong Kong…

Den

Untroubled sleep? Not quite, still better than cattle class, but I was drinking tea with the cabin crew at 3.00am so only got a few hours shut eye.



eleven hours later... bad hair day



Hong Kong is amazing. All noise, bustle, cars, buses, people, neon lights, more people and oh so many tall tall buildings.

We took the bus from the airport which dropped us at the YMCA Hotel.


View from our hotel room


At check in we got a free upgrade, so we have a bedroom and living/office area (from where I type now) and amazing views over the harbour.


Tea at the Peninsula


We took a few steps outside the hotel and walked into the Peninsula Hotel, allegedly the most famous hotel in Hong Kong. We partook of its famous High Tea including delicate finger sandwiches (crusts cut off naturally), melt in the mouth pastries, cakes and scones with clotted cream and jam. Rounded off with tea, served in gold plated tea pots and a piano tinkling in the background.

All in all, a very satisfactory start to the honeymoon. Its 8:30pm HK time and I admit to feeling a little jaded. Must try to stay awake till at least 10.00pm

Lucy