As so often happens with an early start, I was awake way before I needed to get up. It was dark and, yes, it was raining! But after an interesting take off it was sheer bliss to clear the clouds and see the sunshine again. A couple of hours later, the clouds disappeared altogether so there was a wonderful view of Sydney’s Bondi beach as we came into land.
Hopefully, on the next leg the movies will be slightly more inspiring than the Fiji Airways selection. I was reduced to watching one of Jackie Chan’s less memorable efforts but it passed a couple of hours.
Since I started on this trip I’ve seen a fair few airports and I must say that I’m dismayed at the growing trend of placing the duty free shopping area as some sort of obstacle course between security and the departure gates. The airport experience is now more like a visit to Ikea or worse as retail sales staff are prone to leap out at you when all you want to do is find the gate and go! And at this time of the year particularly, the ghastly ersatz Christmas music dripping out of the omnipresent sound systems is especially depressing. Bah humbug? Maybe but do we always have to settle for quantity rather than quality?
Sydney was certainly sunny but the rest of Australia was not. It only took half an hour from take off on my next leg to encounter cloud – sometimes dense- and turbulence.. So a lot of bumping around for around 7 hours which was certainly more interesting than the movie selection – again. What is it with these airlines?
I was becoming a little paranoid about bad weather following me but there was a definite improvement as we moved north from Indonesia. So, by the time of landing, it was clear and fine – the weather that is. Other things were not. I arrived safely in Kuala Lumpur with an overnight stop before travelling on to Langkawi tomorrow. My luggage did not. I suppose it had to happen sometime. Anyway, the kind and helpful Malaysian Airlines staff know exactly where my suitcase is …… still in Sydney! So, after lots of form filling, I am assured it will arrive in Langkawi tomorrow – possibly even before I do. I’m not holding my breath.
Oh the joys of jet setting! It’s been a very long day.
Phileas. zzzzz
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