Yesterday was an easy day, spent partially indoors. I had started the day with the hotel breakfast which was cheap for Poland at PLN35 (NZD18). And I made good use of the hotel room. With the grey day, I did my rehab exercises and made good use of the internet before I go behind the Great Firewall of China tomorrow.
Today, I leave Warsaw for Beijing taking the 1330 Air China flight. I got to the airport by train at 1000 and joined the queue in the corner of the terminal building about 15 mins later after enquiring with the information counter where they check-in desk would be; it hadn’t showed up on the screen yet.
I didn’t realise there was much more of the terminal landside area until much later, as we were located in quite an isolated corner.
Seven check-in counters opened at 1030, exactly 3h prior to departure and despite the long queue ahead, it was fast moving. I was got to the front after 30 mins.
I rearranged my belongings at a repacking table and accidentally got mingled into the queue for security. Even though I waited for 20 mins to get through, I think I saved about 10 mins through that faux pas.
Once airside, it was another 5 mins walk and 5 mins in the immigration queue to get to the non-Schengen area where I could finally relax in the lounge with the glass of bubbly Italian wine from a tap.
The flight left on time with a surprisingly white passenger profile, unlike many Chinese flights that I’m used to, e.g. from New Zealand where many Chinese people live, or from Malaysia where there are many Chinese tourists.
I spoke to some of the Poles on board. Some are headed to China but others are connecting onto Taiwan and Japan.
The crew were efficient and with 6 carts serving economy class, all hot meals had been served 1h10 after take-off. And 20 mins after that, a second round of drinks had been done.
Despite the flight being entirely before my bedtime (1330 to 2200 Polish time), I was surprised that I had a little doze for an hour. I think there had been a bit of low-level stress with the pre-departure process.