Leaving for an adventure always feels good.. but coming home is so magical… Livonne

I told Cecile yesterday that if she was a good girl, I would not make her walk the next day, but she could sit for 24 hours if she wanted to. I guess that means, we’re on our way home. The flight from France to Sydney took 24 hours pretty much on the dot but included a 3 hours stopover in Hong Kong. But let’s get back to the start of the day.

We woke up bright and early again, our packing pretty much all done. Just a few things left to go in the bags, like the pyjamas we were wearing and the toiletries we needed that morning. Then we sat down for a cuppa and some breakfast. We were busy chatting and taking it slowly when we suddenly realised the airport taxi would be there in 40 minutes so we had to rush.

Never fear, we were ready in time and then just had to drag our suitcases down the staircase again. We had extras this time, with another 2 bags we had gained along the way. Our bags however were lighter this time as we’d thrown any toiletries which were almost empty. Down we went, the taxi was there and we climbed aboard, saying goodbye to Paris as we went.

Arriving at Charles De Gaulle airport, we found our check in area and asked if we could weigh our bags. Thankfully they weren’t busy at the Cathay Pacific space at that time, so they let us weigh them, and we were both under the weight limit. Not by much admittedly, but under the 23kg all the same. We printed our boarding passes and went back to deposit the bags and we were off for some quiet time.

We grabbed a last pastry and a cuppa and I sat down to write my blog from Versailles and posted it. It seemed like no time when we realised we had just over an hour to go before we were boarding and we hadn’t gone through security yet, so we raced to the area we needed to go to. Through the gate with our boarding passes, we ended up at the customs, where our passports were checked and without much ado, we were out and on our way to the security section to put our cary on bags through. My bag was chosen for drug testing. Not both of the carry ons I had, just my camera bag.

That’s fine. No issues, except one of the bags before mine was a larger carry on suitcase which was FULL of trinkets: Ferrer Roches, crystal vases, just heaps of gifts obviously. The woman testing was obviously not in a hurry because she took everything out carefully, slowly tested it, then started to pack it all back in again. Finally she was done and started on the next bag. I was still 3rd in line by now and was getting anxious. She finally got to mine, took everything out, tested it, then shoved it back to me to put back. Hmmm.. Obviously I didn’t rate the same care.. Never mind, I’d rather repack it myself.

I raced up the escalator and by this time, presented my boarding pass and we were ready to board. Well that’s what it seemed like, but no. We were just taking a bus to another terminal to board. So, we climbed onto a packed bus with other passengers on the same flight, across the tarmac where we alighted and then had to climb up a staircase and through a tunnel to then board the plane. So far, our not really walking for a full 24 hours wasn’t doing too well.

All good, we got on the plane, so our 24 hours starts from here. We settled in and before we knew it, we were up, up and away, saying adieu to Paris as we went. The country side as we were leaving was just beautiful and we got some great shots of it from the window. It didn’t seem too long after we’d taken off that we were served lunch but for the life of me, I can’t remember what it was. I think it was a chicken dish but I could be totally wrong. I also wrote the Disneyland blog but of course had no internet to post it, so I just kept it for when we landed. We flew over the alps on our way and oh what a glorious sight that was. We hit quite a bit of turbulence along the way which was a bit hair raising but all was well.

So, let’s talk about online entertainment. I turned on a new movie I hadn’t seen; You’re Cordially Invited with Reece Witherspoon and Will Ferrell. If I’m honest, I really don’t like Will Ferrell but there were a lot of laugh out loud moments in the movie. I really enjoyed it. I started to watch Show Girls but struggled a bit to get into it, so watched something else first, then went back to it. I’m sure it’s a well acted movie but honestly, it didn’t really do it for me, though I do think Pamela Anderson was great in it. She certainly showed a vulnerable side. I went onto some Disney, because, well… Disney! And watched Beauty and the Beast, the remake with Emma Watson, then followed that up with Cinderella with Lily James.

Then breakfast was served. We sort of missed the whole night, losing 6 hours on the trip from Paris to Hong Kong. I think there were a few hours of dark, but all the shades were down so we didn’t notice. For breakfast I thought I’d be daring and try the Prawn Cogee instead of the omelette. Not my best choice but it was okay, just a bit tasteless with a very watery risotto kind of base. At least there was a bread roll and some yoghurt. Not long after that, we were landing in Hong Kong. (it was more than 7 flying hours for those of you who just started to sing Khe Sanh)

Okay, I know I said she could sit for 24 hours, but this changeover was necessary, so we thought we’d go straight through to the gate as soon as possible and just sit there. The connecting flight info on the plane said we would go to gate 33 which sounded a long way away but as we got off there was another board that said gate 46. We checked a few other boards and 46 it was. Okay, so straight to security, we put our carry on bags through again, and this time, I was pulled up again. They were looking for my ventolin puffer but once they realised what it was, I was off and running.

Then we looked up for Gate information. Gulp.. They went right up to gate 500 and something.. Oh dear. ( I looked today and there are actually only 89 gates. The rest are virtual.. I don’t know.. Look it up lol) We saw the way to gates 40 to 80 I think, so we followed that sign which led us to a train station. We boarded that and headed again amongst a heap of passengers, to the next stop where we would find our gate. Following the no walking theme, we jumped on the ‘walkalator’ choosing not to walk.

We settled at our gate and I posted the last of the Paris blogs (other than this final one which wasn’t really in Paris) then caught up with some social media and just relaxed till it was time to board. I was thrilled to see that we were sitting in a 3 seat row with only our two bums on them, so we had another seat between us. Bonus. As we were taxiing, there was a great view of the mountains and though they were covered in clouds, you could see the cable cars. Then when we took off we got some great views of Hong Kong, even with other planes taking off around the same time. This was it.. The final leg of our adventure.

As soon as the seat belt sign was turned off after take off, the people in the row in front of us threw their seats back. Now if you are one of those people who just throw your seat back without a thought for the passenger behind you, shame on you. I know you can put it back, but at least check first and don’t just jam it back. I had a drink spilled on me as a result. Then it was time for second breakfast. This time I chose the egg option instead of being daring, and got scrambled eggs, chicken sausages, tomatoes and sweet pancakes. I don’t understand the sweet pancake thing but I guess each to their own. It was lovely anyway.

I settled down to watch a movie, and I reckon within a few minutes I was out of it. I slept solidly for 3-4 hours i think. When I woke, the girl in front of me was almost laying in my lap. She had pushed her seat back again even further and I couldn’t even move my legs. I sat forward and as I did so, nudged the seat so she sat it up. Good! But the whole trip she kept shoving it back again, even when the dinner trays were brought around later on, hence the spilled drink. The hostess had told the guy in front of Cecile to put his up when the trays were being served but not the girls.

Dinner was a pork sweet and sour dish with rice and vegetables and to be honest, it wasn’t the best. Still edible but not as flavoursome as some of the other dishes we had been served. Still, that’s ok. Others may enjoyed it, but it wasn’t my cup of tea. So back to the drink incident, while I was eating dinner, the girl in front threw her chair even further back than it was spilling a coke over me. I leaned forward and said, could you please stop just throwing your seat back, you’ve spilled a drink over me. Trays are out, and people are trying to eat. There isn’t much room. No apology, instead her friend started arguing with me, saying she was sleeping and she couldn’t help it and everyone else had their seats back (which they definitely didn’t). I said, I don’t care, at least wait until the trays have been taken away, but they obviously thought I was being a cow. Maybe I was, but bloody hell.. There is little enough room in aeroplanes these days without that sort of inconsideration.

Cecile was watching Bridget Jones’ Baby and I spied Colin Firth so decided that was a good idea but I watched the first one, Bridget Jones’ Diary. When that was done, we didn’t have much time left, but I found High Society on the list so turned that on. I do love me a bit of Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly. I didn’t get to see the whole thing as we were coming in to land. I was distracted anyway as I was watching Australia pass by underneath us. I was a bit thrown at about 6 our time as we flew over Northern Territory and Queensland to see it was pitch black. I hadn’t seen night fall as the shade was down, but when I looked out it was so dark. No wonder the trip home always seems to make for worse jetlag than the trip over.

Sydney at last. We lost another 3 hours on this leg of the journey, but are now on Australian time again. We landed and headed off with all our stuff in hand and got through really quickly. Got our bags and headed to customs where we had nothing to declare so walked straight out. Cecile’s husband was there to pick us up and before we knew it, we were on our way back to the Blue Mountains. We listened to the election news on the way home and were thrilled to find that Australia had voted for kindness and inclusion rather than the opposite. There is good in the world and we are lucky enough to live in it.

I didn’t go straight to bed as I wanted to watch a bit more when I got home but also wanted to stay up as long as possible to try to get back into a normal habit quickly. When my phone fell out of my hand 3 times as I dozed off, I knew it was time for bed. My own shower, my own bed and my country is in safe hands. Life is wonderful…. That’s it! Adventure over. Thank you for coming on this journey with us. It’s been fantastic and I hope you’ve enjoyed the trip.

Happy being home… Livvy xxx