The perils of travelling - Melbourne to Brisbane - A week means little improvement

 Melbourne to Brisbane by Qantas

The experience coming from Brisbane to Melbourne was interesting, considering that Qantas has been in mothballs for nearly a year and a half.

We've thrown all Covid rules into the bin, the plane is at sardine level, no separation and if just one passenger has Covid then the rest of us are in deep shit.

As an example, the passenger next to me coughed for the whole two and a half hours.  I doubt whether people even check these days if they have it or not, so reliant are we on the herd immunity theorem.

It might account for the hostesses being taciturn to the point of almost being rude, they only came down the cabin once to deliver the snack and once to collect the rubbish.

That was it.  The rest of the time they were invisible.  I'm guessing that Covid is on their minds and see how easy it would be to get it in such an enclosed environment, the less contact with passengers the better.

Will it be better on the way back?

...

It is not.

This is a bigger disaster.

It's 10 minutes past departure time, and they can't find the baggage handlers to load the bags, so they're forlornly sitting on the tarmac, and we are squashed into a steel cocoon, hoping like hell someone hasn't lied about not having Covid.

Something else I find amusing, other than the fact they're shuffling people around seats after everyone had been seated, is the instructions to maintain a safe distance while loading.  

If 25cm is a safe distance, then we're ok, but if it's the one and a half meters that's the usual safe distance then their airline had suffered a mega fail in social distancing.  Of course, it's not practicable in a plane, so why do they continually labor the point?

They eventually find the baggage handlers, which, to me, seems incredible there isn't a roster to tell them where they're supposed to be, something you think the Qantas CEO would be addressing rather than looking for $19 million houses in upscale Sydney, but apparently not.

It seems that Qantas has fired all of the local employees who used to look after baggage and clean the planes, and it is now in the hands of contractors, who are profit-orientated so less staff to do more work in half the time.  So, there might be a wait for baggage, and a longer wait to clean the plane if they actually do 'clean' the plane - in the few minutes they have because it arrived late, and because of that the plane lost its slot in the roster!

Everything withstanding, we finally push back at 4:05 pm, 45 minutes late, and, by the way, all that time we were cooped up with no air filters keeping the virus at bay.  It's beginning to look like the Ruby Princess saga all over again.

Seven minutes later, we take off, the pilot continually telling us they will be making up time, and those with ongoing connections, not to lose faith.  Sorry, but that ship has sailed!

But, sometimes, there isn't a lot of time between plane arrivals and departures at connecting airports, and there is one on arrival in Brisbane causing major concern, a flight to New Zealand around 7 pm.  With our arrival after 6pm, that rule of arriving at the airport 2 hours before is looking very shaky.

Glad it's not me.  I've been there and it's not good for either nerves or heart rate.

On this flight the aircrew is more visible, checking if everything is stowed before take-off, and then when snack service is upon us.

I often wonder who comes up with the idea, four corn chips, some nuts, three pretzels, and some tomato seltzer.  And a soft drink in a small can.   There used to be tea or coffee once, but that seems to have disappeared, along with the cake and/or biscuits.

Despite everything, we are tracking to arrive in Brisbane 'on time', sorry, the new 'on time' of 6pm, with the plane suddenly heading for the ground a half-hour before touching down.  Always a heart-stopping moment when the engines make a sudden and 'funny' noise.

Touch down at 5:57 pm, this one was relatively smooth, if not very fast.  It seems the 737 can't land at anything less than what feels like 200 miles an hour.

Terminal by 6:00 pm, but getting off the plane, getting to baggage collection, waiting for the bags, then head for wherever you're going, that can be up to another hour before you get out of the terminal.   Today it was not so bad, there weren't 5 planes arriving at the same time!

As for the international connection passengers, they got a bus directly from the airplane, which would save a lot of time finding the transfer desk, then finding the bus, if there was one waiting for them.

 

The perils of travelling - Brisbane to Melbourne - First time flying after the pandemic

Every flight is still different, but this time it has more significance.

So, it's the end of the restrictions induced by the pandemic, and against my better judgement, we're travelling again.

The pandemic is not over, it's just we've moved it to one side and trying our best to ignore it.  Try as we may, it ain't going nowhere.

But we can't all stay locked up forever.

It's been over two years since we've been to Melbourne where our relatives are, and it's going to be a two-and-a-half-hour flight, wearing masks, and hoping against hope there's no one with Covid on the plane.

It's a forlorn hope, by the way.

These days people have it but aren't isolated because they can't afford to.  All the government handouts are finished, making it impossible for people not to be working.

Of course, the country had a very high vaccination rate, and I'm covered, having just had a booster.  If comes died to susceptibility, and so far I've managed to avoid it, even with my better half working in an office where nearly everyone has had Covid at some time or other, and at a stage where it could be passed on 

Perhaps it's just been blind luck.

Going on this plane will be a good test.

We decided to park the car for the six days in the long term car park.  We were going to get dropped off but it was wet, raining very hard, and the roads were a nightmare, with ghastly traffic jams.

Our driver would have been out recently licence's granddaughter and it would have been too much for her, even though she wouldn't say no.

The walk from the car park was long, but direct.  Sometimes it can be convoluted when having to park on the higher floors.  We're on the ground, and it's easy just to jump in the car and drive out.

Inside the terminal building, its masks on.  This place doesn't recognise the end to mask restrictions, so the threat of covid I'd very real.  I hope they got that memo on the plane.

It would be pre-flight entertainment if they had to bodily drag a dissenter off kicking and screaming, or dies that only happen in America?

The food choices are still as appalling as they were before the pandemic, and I still don't get why all the reasonably good choices are down one end, and, you guessed it, not the end we're departing from.

I go for a walk, but an angry customer returning half-cooked food puts me off everything, until I got a chicken schnitzel roll, which after I got it failed to show any sign if chicken, schnitzel or otherwise.

It did have ham, slightly dry around the edges, cheese, tomato, and lettuce, sad the roll itself was quite tasty, so a three out of ten for trying.

The price, like all airport food, nearly broke the bank.  But here's the thing, they wouldn't charge it if people didn't pay it, so it's everyone else's fault!

Of course, we wouldn't need to buy food, if you could call it that, before getting on the plane if the miserly airlines weren't cutting costs, i.e. food, to make that extra buck to put in the CEO annual bonus.

Once, the meal options were quite good, but over time, these have got less and less and less, until now if you get a cookie, you're lucky.

It will be interesting to see how further the standards have fallen, anywhere hearing sane said CEO wailing about not being able to fly during the pandemic, showing that he is more concerned about profits than passenger safety.

All while everyone else is citing the mantra, 'your safety is our priority'.  I guess one day the message might come from the top down, but I won't be holding my breath.

I read up on the safety procedures they implement in between flights so I'm expecting to get on a disinfectant-smelling plane with shiny clean surfaces.  It would be a huge improvement over that which prevailed before the pandemic where planes could be anything from apparently clean to don't look below the surface.

Like I said, having not flown for so long, and the fact the pandemic is anything but dead and buried, there are so many things that could go wrong.

Meanwhile, we're sitting in the gate lounge ticking off the minutes before boarding.  No matter what changes Covid had brought, that will be the same, people ignoring the seat road loading instructions and others pushing in as though the plane might leave without them if they didn't.

Good News!

The incoming flight is here, 20 minutes before boarding time, so we're going to be late leaving.

Or will they sacrifice the deep cleanse?

Stay tuned.

News flash...  9ur crew is coming in on another flight which is running late, no, just landed, so they have to finish up there, and come on over, go through pre-flight, and hen we can board.

Yep, we're going to be late leaving.  Who would have guessed?

Boarding as always is amusing but it's made even more so by the constant reminder to keep our distance from other passengers, and if you can't, and as you know sardines have nowhere to go, we should rely on the mask.

Wow.  These people seem to think masks will save us.  Sadly, they won't, but they know that.  But it looks good and makes them feel better while cramming people into their small planes.

We were supposed to leave at 6:15 pm.  The late arrival of the operating aircraft and waiting for the crew from yet another late-arriving aircraft, takes its toll.  

Good news though.  More time to clean the plane.  It looks clean, but there's no tell-tale disinfectant aroma, so what did they do?

6:37 push back.  Overall, it's not a bad result, pushing back 22 minutes late.  It's time, they say, they can make up in the air.

They allow 2 hours and 20 minutes for the end-to-end departure and arrival from and at the gate.  The actual flying time, give or take, is 1 hour and 45 minutes, so we have 45 minutes for taxiing.

6:47 take off, so 1 hour 45 minutes added means we have a touch-down time of 8:32.  Our scheduled arrival time was 6:15 plus 2 hours and 20 minutes, so it would be 8:35.  Three minutes from touch-down to disembarking at the gate.

I don't think so.

We'll just have to wait and see.

I must have dozed off for a few minutes because the next thing that happens is food service, and it's going to be arancini balls, which I like, so it sounds good.  But it's airline food so it will be interesting

Something else that's bordering me, the woman on the seat next to me gas a persistent cough.  Mask or no mask this is a problem, especially if she had Covid, and doesn't know it yet.  Or it's symptomatic or something else. 

I'm immuno-compromised so anything floating around in that tin can I'm likely to be susceptible to.  Time will tell if it's serious.

Past that fear, the balls were delicious, all four of them, and a coke for a drink.  We've moved on from tea and coffee, and polite flight attendants, because they insisted, that we keep masks on till after they passed handing out the food.

It shows the staff have no faith in the company's health directives, so they know each flight they're dicing with death.

Scary thought. 

But, all's well that ends well, and we make up the time and end up being 7 minutes late which is acceptable in anyone's language.

8:37 on the runway with a bang.

8:42 at gate

My take on travelling by plane in the post-pandemic world, it's too soon and vaccinated or not, we are all still susceptible to getting the virus and it is killing us.  I have to travel home yet, but I have to hope the lady in the next seat hasn't hexed me.

Not after dodging it for so long by keeping myself safe, a proper distance between me and the rest of the world, and keeping away from those in isolation, because those few I could trust would stay in isolation.

For the rest of the world, when money is the driving object to disobey or flout the rules, they become a serious problem, one that nothing is going to overcome, and therefore we will quite feasibly never get rid of the virus.

Let's hope the trip back is less traumatic.

 

Eating In, Peninsula Hotel, Hong Kong

Hotel dining can be a very expensive experience, but if you are there as one of those bucket list fulfillments like we were, then it's not unusual to go the whole nine yards.

Since the stay coincided with my birthday, the first day was set aside to have dinner at the Chinese restaurant upstairs and was one of those sublime experiences.  Of course, it had to be Peking Duck, expensive champagne, and several cocktails.

Oddly enough, breakfast wasn't included in the room rate, but that seems to be normal for a lot of hotels.  It can be if you want to pay upfront, but we don't always have breakfast, particularly if we have dinner the night before.

Or can be bothered getting out of bed the next morning because quite often the breakfast hours do go with staying in bed.

During this stay, we decided to have breakfast one morning, cereal, bacon and eggs, coffee, toast, you know, the usual stuff.

No paper placemats here and the silverware was just that, silverware.  This was going to be full on old world charm.

Coffee served from a silver coffee pot, fine bone china from Staffordshire, not Thailand, tea service for milk and sugar, condiments all in a row.

The only disappointment, I don't think the eggs were free-range.

And, when the conversation dries up, there's always a steady stream of people coming and going through the front door, and the doorman is always at the ready to open the door.

WE went once for lunch, and yes, we had to go to the famous Afternoon Tea, for which you had to book or stand in a very long line.  We booked and discovered preference was given to those who were staying at the hotel.

Out came the silver tea service, and one could imagine that this was the same as what it had been a hundred years ago.  I had tea, after all, it was afternoon tea!

The cakes were interesting, there were quarter sandwiches rather than finger sandwiches, and though I'm not a fan of fruit scones, I'm always up for something different.

After it, it's probably not a good idea to go out for dinner too.

Overall, the experience was worth it.

Nepean Country Club, Rosebud, Victoria, Australia

We have a timeshare property we bought a long, long time ago, and it is located at Rosebud, in Victoria, Australia.

At the time we bought it, we thought it would be a good idea to have somewhere to go, to visit and stay for one week of the year.  And for the first few years, we did.

Until we moved to Queensland, and when we did that, we discovered the other convenience of owning a timeshare, we could get reciprocal weeks anywhere in the world.

Mostly in New Zealand, north and south island, but also on the French Riviera.  That was some experience spending a week there.

When we first bought it, it was very small, with only a few apartments, and facilities.  Perhaps the biggest drawcard was the 18 hole golf course, but we didn't play golf.  It had a swimming pool, a restaurant, a cafe, tennis courts, and a bowling green.

Only recently when we returned, to actually stay for a week, we discovered the place to be much larger, a new reception centre, a lot more apartments, and better facilities.

The reception centre was imposing

From any side.  It also had apartments and walkways going off in all directions.  On this side, it led to the restaurant and cafe.

Not far away is the aquatic centre and the cafe.  It has both a hot pool and a cold pool, both undercover.  The weather in Victoria can be quite wet and cold, even in summer.

There are BBQ facilities everywhere.

We did not get to use the swimming pool, but we did get coffee every morning at the cafe.

Tennis courts are both undercover and out in the open.

We did not get the opportunity to use the BBQ.  Instead, we opted for dining at several of the nearby hotels.

And the idea of rowing on the lake did not have any appeal.  I'm sure, on a hot day, the experience would be quite different.

O'Reilly's Vineyard, Canungra, Queensland, Australia

O'Reilly's Canungra Valley Vineyards located on Lamington National Park Road, Canungra, Queensland, is a 15-acre vineyard with the 163-year-old historic homestead ‘Killowen’ set up with dining rooms and long verandahs, and extensive grounds that are next to the Canungra creek where it is possible to find Platypus and turtles while partaking in a picnic.

There are about 6,000 vines of the (white) Semillon, Verdelho and (red) Chambourcin, Shiraz and Petit Vedot varieties.

We visited there in December when the vines were just starting to produce fruit. 

That fruit is usually harvested in February and then turned into wine.

The setting for picnics is, on a warm Summer's day is idyllic, where you can wade in the creek, or go looking for a platypus.  We did not see one there the day we visited but did spend some time sitting beside the creek.

Sydney to Brisbane - Every Flight is different

 Our connecting flight to Brisbane leaves at 11:00.

We head for Qantas domestic transfer and when we get there the check-in clerk says we have plenty of time, the bags disappear, and we are virtually the last ones on the bus before it leaves.

Only to be stuck in a traffic jam while two planes are being ferried to another part of the airport.  It's now 10:30 and boarding for the Brisbane plane starts in 10 minutes.

Guess what?  We make it with a minute, yes that's what I said, 1 minute to spare.

However, the bad luck continues, and just after the plane had loaded and the main door shut with the possibility of an on-time departure, another calamity.

The air conditioner is broken and it's about 40 degrees Celsius in the main cabin.  That's almost unbearable conditions.  A call is out to the engineers and as at 11:20, they are still working on it.  But, mercifully, it is a little cooler.  Perhaps it's working again.

Yes...

An announcement is made, the door is closed, and we're pushing back at 11:37.  Qantas is not having a good day in Sydney.

I think we won the raffle with this plane, it appears to be very old, with no screens in the seatbacks, but perhaps the onboard wifi could take its place.  The engines starting up with a loud whine, unlike most that just start and are virtually silent.  

Did I just get a hint of mothballs?

11:50 take off and this is where the shuddering starts and persists until the landing gear is retracted.  Then it's just creaks and groans from a tired airframe that's been through a lot of cycles.

Obviously, we made it home because you are reading this!

Shanghai to Sydney - Every flight is different

It's time to leave China and Shanghai. 

Every other time we have arrived or departed Shanghai, we've had to catch a bus to the plane.  Today, for the first time, we boarded the plane from a gate.

It's too good to be true...

So, here we are going for that on-time departure, and...

There has been an official "muck up" between the agents and the control tower staff in relation to a missing flight plan, so we now look like we're going to be sitting on the ground, in the plane, for at least an hour and a half.

Yes, things like this can happen to foreign airlines in China and there's little hope that the situation will change.  Beaurocacry is Beaurocacry and there's an end to it.

Now, we have the knock-on effect of catching connecting flights out of Sydney with the problems created if we arrive late, having to go through immigration, wait for baggage, collect the baggage, run the gamut of customs because I'm sure there's something we've bought in China that will grab their attention, get to the transfer bus with baggage, get to the domestic terminal and then try to find our connecting flight.  Sound like the definition of madness?  It is.

Update...

After some negotiation, well I won't say what I'm thinking, our departure had been moved up to 15 minutes from now, which means pushing back at 20:15, rather then the original departure time of 19:50.

So...

20:15 is here and we're still not moving, but the door is now closed, and I suspect, we're about to start pushing back...

Stand by...

20:30 and we're now pushing back in preparation to leave, 40 minutes late.  It's going to be interesting to see if they can make up any time in the air.  It isn't exactly the smoothest run from the gate to the runway, and it highlighted a few of the creaks, groans, and rattles the plane has.

So much for a quick getaway...

20:51, we take off, exactly one hour and one minute late.  There's that few moments when the engines are throttled back for some reason, the retraction of the flaps not quite as noisy as some other old planes, and the familiar clunk as the undercarriage finally rests in its slot, but at least we'rein the air, and heading home.

Now it's a matter of getting up, through a little turbulence, and turning slowly to acquire our heading for Sydney.  As it is 6 minutes into the flight, we're heading towards Japan.  Perhaps they shouldn't allow us to see the flight path, and worry about whether the pilot really does know where he's supposed to be going.

But...

It's 01:27 Sydney time and the flight path program is indicating we will be arriving in Sydney at 09:39.  Not long ago we were traveling at just over 1,000 kph, but that has now been wound back to 879 kph, as we straighten our course.  it seems going almost in the wrong direction was to catch the tailwinds so we could make up time, but that could only last for so long before we had to correct the heading.

Let's see how it works out.

After standing, sitting, standing again, and then going back to my seat for several hours of fitful sleep it's time for breakfast, and it's then I notice that the arrival time in Sydney is now expected to be around 08:37 which will make it more or less on time.

That impression remains until half an hour before, which is when the plane usually starts it'd descent, and hasn't.  That's a telltale sign we are not going to land at the time indicated.

However, a few minutes later, we start the descent at 08:10 but still showing the same arrival time.  At this rate, we should be going down like a lead balloon.  Either that or we're going to be late.

For those of us panicking about missing our connecting flights, a list of changes is read out by the cabin manager, and our flight to Brisbane has been changed.  We are now on QF520.

So far, so good...

Hang on, now we're being told that there's a delay because of congestion and we will not be landing until 08:45.  Just because they managed to make up some time, it's a case of no good deed goes unpunished.

This is followed by another announcement because we're late we've been allocated an outer bay that requires us to take buses to the terminal.  Just what you want after 10 hours in a red-eye special.  

And it just gets better...

We're on the ground, at the time specified 08:45, and rolling towards our allotted bay when we get another announcement.  There's a broken plane in our bay so we have to sit out on the tarmac and wait for another 10 minutes.

What else can happen?

Nothing thankfully, and we finally get to the bay and exiting the plan by the stairs at one exit.  That's when the euphoria stops.  Halfway down the stairs we suddenly stop.  

There's only one bus and it's full.  Worse, in some cases families have been separated, some are on the bus, and the rest of us still on the stairs.  It's like a Charlie Chaplin comedy movie.

Where's the next bus?  Don't they have more than one bus waiting for a plane with over 200 passengers?  After languishing on the stairs for about ten minutes we hear the Qantas staff member on the ground say there are no buses immediately available.  Obviously, this was to a restless passenger, further down the stairs.  Good thing, then, it's not raining.

Time is ticking away for us to make the connecting flight and we haven't got as far as the terminal to get started on immigration.

It takes a rather long 15 minutes before the next bus arrives, and, as an interesting diversion, what we soon discover to be a double-ended bus that can be driven from either end.  Never seen one of those before.

We get to the terminal, get reunited with other family members, go through the preliminary immigration procedures, down to have our photo taken, and then into the baggage hall.  You would think with all the delays that our bags would be waiting for us.

No.

It takes another fifteen minutes before they come out of what must have been the last baggage container.  With time just about up for making it to the connecting flight, we still have to go through customs, and the line is very long, but fortunately moving quickly.  We declare our stuff as a precaution, and all is well, we can go.

The time is now 10:05.

Not much time to get to the connecting plane.