Trip Report - CX103

Back home! Woohoo! Now a review of the second segment of our flight back home - Cathay Pacific from Brisbane to Hong Kong, via Cairns.

I pick up where I left off in Hong Kong Airport, where we made the transfer from the arrivals to the departures area and waited for boarding. During that time, I took some plane geek photos. There were quite a few A380s, as well as an area where you could see the planes right as they touched down:

Plane geek photos in Hong Kong

We were introduced to the new liquids rule for flights into Australia - now it's identical to the US, you can't even refill water bottles after security, as there is a second check at the airbridge. I have no idea why, that's the whole purpose of security screening is it not?

We got access to a small priority queue as premium economy passengers, although we were basically lumped together with everyone at the liquids checking area halfway along the airbridge. The Cathay flight was on an A330, so a bit smaller and a few less people to deal with. The flight left late, but we managed to 'make up time' by the time we arrived in Cairns and then Brisbane. They are on time 80% of the time for a reason...

Our ride back to Oz

They served dinner - the only meal offered on the flight, despite the fact that we would arrive a few hours after breakfast. The food was a vast improvement on Air France's offering:

Dinner on Cathay

I know that people don't always like Asian food when they have just spent two weeks on Asian food, but it was quite nice having come from European foods. Bok choy and chicken with rice and Haagen Dazs was just the ticket! Cathay was much better and came around much more frequently with drinks and the like.

We arrived in Cairns a bit before 4:30. The airport was completely dead, but the security staff were surprisingly perky, and were up for a good chat while we waited for all the people in front of me to empty their bags of their stuff like amateurs. Dad made the observation on the way over that all the Asian tourists seemed to go to Tropical North Queensland, and indeed the flight was decidedly more empty after the Cairns stop.

Just after departure in Cairns, I managed a really nice photo of the sunrise with my phone. It never ceases to impress me:

Sunrise over the Pacific Ocean

Our entertainment system from Cairns to Brisbane consisted of watching the entertainment system being reset, and watching the Linux OS start up. Not so amusing for several other people, but surely you don't need entertainment on a less-than-2-hour flight?

Entertainment

In fact, I lie. We got a small breakfast pasty. Quite delicious too. They even came back with a hot chocolate after they said they couldn't source me one. They shouldn't have bothered - it was hot but it wasn't chocolate - it must have had a quarter-shot of chocolate in it.

Arrival in Brisbane, and fast forward to, well, fast-forwarding through the ePassport section and bag pick-up. Again, our 4 bags were literally in the first dozen to come out. My luggage has shown up early for the entire trip!

Hong Kong Airport

With a 7-and-a-half hour layover in Hong Kong, there was nearly enough time to make a quick 2- or 3-hour trip to the mainland. I nearly did, but then decided that staying at the airport would be better. I would be able to charge all my 'devices' and have a perve at all the planes on offer.

Hong Kong had beaucoup de A380s - along with my ride to Paris on Air France, there were also A380s belonging to British Airways, Emirates and Singapore Airlines. I also snuck a glimpse of a Dreamliner of Air India:

Beaucoup de A380s

Some of the more exotic birds hidden away behind the aerobridges included an A340s of both Air Madagascar and Air Mauritius. Here in Asia, you can't even escape Tigerair (or Tiger Airways as it is still known here):

Inescapable, even on another continent

After I checked out most of the gates, I walked to the Air France service desk, where I was told that my flight would depart from Gate 60. Having scouted out the gate, I located a pair of charging stations with UK plugs. Good thing I've got one. There are charging stations at every gate, and they're quite popular.

After an hour or so, a man and his father rocked up speaking Italian. After he asked me about the charging station, I realised the man was Australian. Turns out that not only is he from Mount Gravatt (about 10 minutes down the road from my house), his best friend's son (Reece Harrison) is an umpire for AFL Brisbane Juniors. What a small world!

At about 10pm, with three hours left before the flight, I made the rounds looking for a place to eat. It seemed like all the eateries at the airport were either closed, closing, or had inflated prices. There was a McDonalds, but I wasn't going to do that to myself so early in the trip.

There was a lot of advertising around the airport. I laughed myself silly at this one though. It's an ad for our NBN. There are no words to describe it:

NBN ad - really?

It's now time to board. The remaining two hours have passed relatively quickly, and I'm in no hurry to join the queue to get on a plane that seats 500 people. Good luck with that guys. I'll catch you all in Paris!