I remain a fan of Air NZ!
The flight from Hong Kong to London was exceptional. Back in Premium Economy my neighbour was a Chemistry Professor from Massey University. A lovely and erudite man – in his words he has kissed the blarney stone!
Leaving Hong Kong around 7:30am, we quickly climbed and headed north, catching occasional views of Southern China through the clouds. Once we had crossed into Europe the cloud thinned and we were treated to wonderful views over the cultivated fields, towns and rivers. It has been a dry summer.
Two things – Google Earth would be a wonderful addition to the inflight entertainment options. Noone knew what the rather wide and long river was below us. Damian, the steward, even asked the pilot – all enquiries drew a blank. The second thing? Live Mathletics would also be a wonderful addition to the inflight entertainment! I enjoy “Who wants to be a millionaire” but hanker for a maths workout occasionally! I’m sure it would occupy many of the restless kids on board as well as their parents!
Speaking of Damian – he came over before the plane had left its bay to introduce himself and stated “you’re blanchynz!”. Twitter!!
Here’s an ex-pat Kiwi Air NZ employee who is so proud of his home country’s airline and is so keen to be an exceptional host that he tracks all tweets that mention @flyairnz. He had seen my tweet about heading up via @flyairnz up to the UK and wondered if I would be going via LA or HK as I was flying when he was rostered on. We were well looked after the whole trip but the HK to London leg was best! Air NZ truly deserves the title of Airline of the Year!
The crew were wonderful on the flight and the meals and refreshments were amazing. Beats me how they can manage to keep fish (I had the snapper) perfect and moist. The lamb shank meal was melt in the mouth goodness. We missed out on the chocolate eclairs but Darren, the flight manager, kindly brought us fresh fruit tarts and a stick of (dark) Whittakers chocolate! I was looking forward to once again enjoying clotted cream in the UK – and was treated before landing to a delightful devonshiore treat! Gilly, the scots lass, was so lovely and her gentle banter was a welcome distraction from the long HK to London leg.
We had an amazing approach to Heathrow with the flight path affording us (and my camera!) great views of the city. Touch down was perfect – not a bump.
Then the flight was over. We all disembarked to be hit with a wave of London heat. That was a new experience! Customs was a breeze – welcoming customs officials are always a good thing and then it was out to meet Lyn who had landed from Sydney via Singapore just an hour before.
We London cabbed to the hotel in London (Ibis, Euston St Pancas) and we retired to our rooms for a quick lie down before deciding what to do for the evening. I decided that the lie down needed to be extended so gladly hit the sack for a few hours sleep to try and get body and mind back into sync.
