Saturday 21st March
Flight to Hong Kong
Despite staying within walking distance of Terminal 3 we are determined not to miss the flight, so have set the alarm for 6:00am.
Jo always has a battle with showers. As there is no bath in our room we had the usual procedure of me showing Jo how to use the shower. I thought I had been successful, but it wasn't long before I heard a cry for help. Jo was desperate to know how to stop the water pouring out onto the bathroom floor. I advised pointing the showerhead towards the wall instead of the shower entrance - which seemed to work!
Our reconnoitre yesterday proved helpful and we reached check-in about 07:15. For the first time ever we are flying Business Class so I was looking forward to taking the short queue. Imagine my disappointment when we discovered there was only one other person there apart from us, and he was checking into First Class. Never mind, we had our own queue and hence more time to spend in the Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge. A light breakfast of muesli, Danish pastries and coffee for me. Jo took advantage of the offerings and had sausage and bacon! The lure of an early morning glass of Champagne also proved too difficult to resist.
We discovered yesterday that we had left it too late to pre-order what would be our lunch, but we need not have worried. Whilst waiting for take-off I selected "Poached prawns with spiced horseradish and tomato sauce" for starters to be followed by "Roasted chicken breast with bread sauce and chicken jus".
Shortly after take-off we were offered a drink, and having started the day with Champagne I saw no reason to not have another one! The seats in Business Class on Cathay Pacific are amazing. They convert into a completely flat bed for the night section of the flight, complete with a thin mattress and duvet. There are various storage compartments including one that held a bottle of water, a Bamford pouch of toiletries, a plug socket and some headphones, The door to this opened over a shelf between the two central seats (Jo was one side with me on the other.) I, stupidly, had put my glass of Champagne on the shelf and it wasn't long before I discovered that opening the door to get the headphones out resulted in Champagne spilling everywhere, including all over my trousers, all over my seat, and everywhere downstream of that cursed shelf. Jo's words of sympathy were limited to 'at least it wasn't fish soup!'
Lunch is served and I decide to have a glass of red wine, and having noticed that one of the options was a Chinese red wine, opted for that; it was fine, but I think the Chinese have a little way to go. Desert was served, together with cheese and biscuits. How could i refuse a glass of Port? Perhaps I should have - it was more like half a tumbler of Port rather than a glass. I think I should sleep well...
Take-off from Heathrow is 11:00, hence lunch after take off, but as we are travelling east the 'afternoon' seems to disappear and the next thing we are contemplating is bedding down for the night.
Is it just me, or does anyone find anything vaguely entertaining on the 'Entertainment' options? Perhaps it is just me. I do eventually find a documentary on how Led Zeppelin was formed and fall asleep to that.