Despite the lightning strike which put the flight on hold briefly, we landed at Auckland about 30 mins ahead of the scheduled time of 0940. This was when we lost our gain.  The airbridge operator had trouble with the airbridge and after some time trying, had to get an engineer.  After about 30 mins, the […]

As we descended into Tokyo Narita, I thought I caught a glimpse of a large white peak from the port side window.  Fuji, I thought?  Sunset was around 1630 in the area and it was pretty dark already. The pilot came on to give his landing announcement, partially in Japanese.  We landed around 1725, some […]

Flying out I got to Auckland airport around 2h30 before my 0955 flight to Tokyo.  Kiosk check-in was not available for this flight, so I had to join the long queue which fortunately moved quite quickly.  There were 10 counters for four flights. I was given a boarding pass straight away by the check-in agent […]

It didn’t feel like I had slept after my inflight dinner but because time didn’t drag on, I must have dozed slightly.  My slight sinus and cough from the previous days appear to have eased but the dry cabin air had given me a sore throat. I appear to have come a full circle as […]

Leaving Kuching Today I leave Kuching for the journey back to Auckland, with a self-connect at Singapore.  My brother dropped me off at Kuching airport around 0800 after a slow drive during rush hour. With no food outlets in the international section of the airport (apart from a sandwich stand, I later learnt), I ate […]

Killing time Despite not having napped yesterday afternoon in order to encourage a good night sleep, it didn’t work.  I’m not so good flying eastbound.  Retiring at 2115 last night, I woke up about 3h later. After about an hour, I took a half-strength sleeping pill which didn’t quite work so well.  I didn’t feel […]

We landed in Singapore 20 mins late at 0920 for my nightstop.  Immigration was a dream using the kiosks and baggage came soon after.  To top it off, there were no queues for the taxi at Terminal 1. We got to the Hotel 81 Gold at 1030 while their official check-in time was 1500.  The […]

Above: Mdina soon after take-off. Getting to Istanbul Today we begin our big trip back after over five weeks of summer.  I’m bound for hometown Kuching whereas Kim will plunge into the depths of winter in Auckland. We set the alarm for 0600 but I had woken at 0500 anyway.  Getting a rideshare to the […]