The journey started well. I had been planning to take the train to the city and then the airport bus out to Melbourne Airport, but as usual I had a packing crisis. I really wanted to do this trip with cabin bag only, but it was not to be, given that I had to deal with cold weather in Europe as it is Autumn there now.
So it was a taxi to the airport. I am lucky enough to have my own personal taxi driver – well not quite, but it sounds good. A couple of years ago when I was in hospital having my angiogram, the taxi driver who picked me up to bring me home gave me his card and said I could call him whenever I needed a taxi – very infrequent for me. As I was flying to Hobart the following day for my graduation ceremony for my Diploma of Family History, I arranged for him to pick me up as I was not allowed to drive for a week after the procedure. I have used his services a couple of times since then.
So once again I called on him to to take me to the airport. He arrived on time and had a nice new Mercedes Benz car. It was a very pleasant ride though the traffic was awful. But I always allow plenty of time for such contingencies. Once we got to the airport, I was calm and relaxed. On this trip I was flying on Qantas, my least favourite airline, but had a travel credit to use up so I had to grin and bear it. I booked Premium Economy for this leg of the journey as I just cannot manage the cramped economy seats that Qantas has on it’s planes for eight hours – specially with a wonky knee.
However I got lucky, and and an upgrade to Business Class was on offer which I took. Probably overkill for a day flight, and Premium Economy was sufficient, but with it came the use of the Business Lounge at the airport where I could relax and read the paper, have a cuppa and chill out before the flight. In the air, it was ok. The plane was an A380, one of my favourites and I was on the upper deck. First time for me on the upper deck. It was the old Qantas Business Class as they have so far only refurbished one of their A380’s with the new configuration. Still it was a comfortable eight hours of relaxing, eating, a glass or three of wine, and reading my way to Singapore where we touched down about 20 minutes early.