The story so far

The whole family got up early and to say goodbye to me at the airport. It was kind of strange this happening at the domestic terminal for a change. We didn't have to wait long for my flight to Sydney to board, through the refurbed gate 1 now 767 equipped. During the taxi to the runway I noticed that the lights weren't on in my old 'office', so it looked like they were already struggling without me for one day. The flight was typical Qantas, friendly service, decent food and arrived early. However I did have to sit next to a 'person-of-size’, which was mildly annoying. The movie, Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day was OK with Frances McDormand’s always great acting balancing out Amy Adams typical over the top tripe. Upon deplaning I headed straight to the international transfer lounge and only waited a couple of minutes before a bus arrived. The airside bus ride was great fun driving through the expansive Qantas Jetbase where numerous 747-400's were getting some TLC. We also passed some 747-300's getting ready to leave the fleet in a week. The highlight was driving under the wing of a days old A380 which was being prepped for its flight to LAX. Once at T1 it became apparent the $500 million dollar renovation was in full swing with temporary walls and scaffolding everywhere. After breezing through immigration and security the grossly oversized and forced walk through duty free store (some people were actually lost) was disappointing and was something you typically experience in a third world country, not even Perth does that! I quickly located the QP and was slightly underwhelmed, as it is smaller than the domestic one and the view is not as good. However the self serve drinks (everything) including a selection of draught beers was impressive. I decided to explore the terminal before boarding and found some great quiet viewing spots, though the terminal itself is definitely showing its age with a lot of plain painted brick instead of windows. I then proceeded to the gate and coincidently sat in the young-people-travelling-alone section of the gate lounge. I ended up on the plane sitting next to a Danish girl from this encounter who was on her way home but was a nervous flier, often biting her nails due to the frequent turbulence. The Cathay service was a different style to the relaxed Qantas approach. Once seated the customer service manager came and introduced herself to me and gave me a goody bag and later the economy class purser did similar. This was a little embarrassing particularly next to my new friend, particularly considering I didn't see anyone else get this treatment in economy and I had foregone the priority boarding lane to avoid looking like a wanker (I was 10th inline for the regular boarding queue anyway.) The seatbelt was quite odd on this one year old plane with an 'airbag' on half of it and a different take on the clasp/buckle system which took me 30 seconds to master. Once the entertainment system finally was available I proceeded to squeeze as much value as possible out of the airtime. It is similar to the Finnair one but with far greater choice and a nice feature that lets you know if you won't have time to complete watching a programme before the system is switched off; however no touchscreen is an oversight. I watched two taxpayer funded films, The Square (waste of time) and Romulus, My Father (better but still lacking). Then I watched Boy A, which was a great UK film that makes you think. I killed the remaining time with some TV shows. The food was quite good and came with a printed menu, which was good, particularly with 3 choices available for the main meal and 2 for the pre-landing refreshment. I did resent being forced to close my window shade, despite not being on the sun side, as eyeshades were available to anyone for free, particularly as I haven't flown over Queensland in conscious memory and the majority of the flight was in darkness anyway. Landing came soon and was cool to see us landing simultaneously with a parallel take off. We arrived early at the very end of the airport, requiring the people mover to immigration, which was swift. My bag however was not and I began having flashbacks to exactly the same time a year ago where my bag was lost enroute to Toronto. Most passengers from my flight were connecting to Europe so I expected few bags. When I arrived at the carousel bags were coming out steadily then less and less then the conveyor feeding the carousel from below stopped. People came a collected their bags and few remained. I circled the carousel to ensure I didn't overlook mine but it was not there. I began worrying when the next flight was displayed on the carousel screen and began looking for signs to the baggage enquiry desk, I was thinking at least its a hub airport. Then the feeder belt sprung back to life and one solitary bag was delivered, mine with business tag and all. I was relieved and quickly went to find the nearest ATM, which caused further stress when it instructed me to contact my bank. Fucking china construction bank. I worriedly headed for the always reliable HSBC ATM and was finally given access to my money, which I immediately spent on vacating the airport. In no time I was at my hotel a 20m walk from a MTR exit, which had tiny rooms, as I expected, but the price was also tiny, despite the nice harbour views.

I checked out and headed for in town check in at Hong Kong station, however I failed to realise that those airlines using the new 'check-in facility' (T2) were too stingy to pay for in town check in so I had to pay to store my bag at the station while I went to Tung Chung. The queue for Ngong Ping 360 stretched to the MTR station but I had budgeted time for this. 90 mins later (and poorer than I anticipated due to 'special day' pricing) I finally got in a cabin only to have it stop just before the doors closed. The technical problem was fixed 10 minutes later and I was on my way. The views of Chep Lak Kok where worth the price alone. The cabin design had the air vents at seat level that caused freezing buttocks, instead of the typical European design with the vents at foot level. When I arrived at the top the differences between when I was last there were staggering. The whole area had been commercialised and destroyed the authenticity of the place. However there were people everywhere and it was still the original stalls and food huts outside the concrete 'traditional village' that received most patronage despite ongoing site works making access difficult. The constant jack hammering and earth works also killed the vibe. I didn't stay long and was glad I saw it a couple of years earlier. The queue to go down was shorter when I arrived but grew longer after another stoppage for 'technical reasons'. I made it down and headed back on the MTR to collect my bag and then head back again but this time on the Airport Express. The carriage was exclusively mine and I took the T2 exit. The place was empty and had more shops/restaurants than people. There was a short wait before the Cathay staff arrived from the other terminal to open the checkin. The girl was busy typing away until she told me there was 'a problem with my eticket' and to come back in 20 minutes, this was after she had tagged my bag and printed a boarding pass for me. I came back and all was fixed and she gave me the pass and then I was off to immigration. It was a pretty sad empty affair underground at T2 before boarding the people mover to the main terminal. Here I first located the QP, which was quite lacking but was quiet. I then kicked on to The Wing which was much larger and went to the noodle bar where you order fresh noodle dishes that are made to order. Whilst waiting for my noodles I sampled some of their extensive pastry selection and snatched some nicely wrapped gourmet sandwiches for later, oma style, as well as bottled (evian) water. There was also a decent selection of beer available in the self serve fridge. The noodles were great but the whole place, like the QP, lack any kind of ambience due to both lounges being open air just overlooking the low number departure gates, just on opposite sides of the terminal. Next stop was The Pier which was a people mover ride away and closer to my departure gate. It offers the same components as the Wing but in much nicer location, on the arrivals level underneath the departures concourse, separated from the hubbub of the masses and closer to the apron. This enables great views to be had from the long bar and I couldn't help but try another dish from the noodle bar. Another beer later it was time to board, when I got to the gate is was on final call and I was one of the last to board. The flight was about half full enabling everyone to get adequate space, which was helpful as the royal Jordanian legroom is noticeably less than Cathay’s and Qantas'. I sat next to a Chinese woman who has worked in Jordan for 5 years and goes home twice a year, as such she provided some useful local knowledge. The flight and food service were quick and we arrived in Bangkok where most passengers and the crew got off, the few continuing on to Amman remained onboard whilst catering, cleaning etc. was carried out. We were told to unfasten our seatbelts and turn off electronic devices during refuelling, with similar logic to the signs telling you to turn off your mobile phone at petrol stations. Soon enough we were airborne with a more professional crew and fed again then we were allowed some shuteye. I woke to see our flight path cutting right through the heart of India then staying over water (avoiding Iran & Iraq) before crossing the coast in the middle of Saudi Arabia's coastline. The cabin refurb was mostly cosmetic with new seats and lockers but manual dial-style in seat entertainment controls remaining (not even Qantas have these anymore) and with the flip down LCD's only down the centre not on the window sides as well like most airlines that stinge on PTV's. We were fed a cold refreshment (unlike Cathay’s hot one), but it did feature aussie Berri juice and Arla camembert spread, so it's good to know that the Arab boycott on Danish dairy is over. Upon landing we were told the temperature was a welcoming 3 degrees and were ushered into the decrepit 70's tiled terminal. I purchased my visa on arrival (grateful that I bought JOD beforehand as the exchange rate was a rip) and then proceeded to the immigration desk and had my photo taken US style. Then down to baggage claim which was not dissimilar to home in space and time taken. Then headed to taxi counter to get voucher and driver to take me to the Dead Sea. A nice drive with no traffic due to the hour with driving style somewhere in the Malaysia category. Had to pass through a couple of armed checkpoints, which reminded me where I was. The car also got the mirror treatment before being let into the hotel compound and then my bags had to be x-rayed before going into the lobby. After speaking no English the whole trip the driver somehow managed how to say 'Tip?!' perfectly. When I finally arrived at the hotel at 6am was told to wait till 9 for check in, so pulled out some reading material and hunkered down just as the sun began to rise which revealed the amazing geography for the first time. The manager came in about 90 mins later asked me what was happening and then a few minutes later I was escorted to an upgraded room. This place caters to Europeans and gives off a vibe similar to the place we stayed in Marienbad last Christmas with 6 German TV channels, none in English (sans half of DW) and a plethora of ‘therapeutic treatments’ on offer.

The free wifi is very tempermental so more later...