Today we begin a long-awaited journey to Pakistan via China to visit Kim & Jo’s cousin and travel the Karakoram Highway to Xinjiang. We had booked this trip in 2020 but the Covid-19 pandemic shutdown forced us to cancel, fortunately with no penalties but full refunds.
With a departure time of 1930, Chris dropped us off at the airport at 1615. It was a short wait before check-in opened at 1630. Despite the queue, we were done by 1705.
Since today is Jo’s 70th birthday, we celebrated with a glass of bubbly and a light meal in the lounge before heading to the gate about an hour later.
The Air China B787-9 to Beijing was very full. The crew were proactive with storing luggage to the lockers and once airborne they also got the meal and two drinks service over very quickly.
I was finally able to relax after that. Leaving home always feels a bit more stressful than departing from another city, as there is always that last-minute worry about whether everything was taken care of before taking off.