dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
- Messages
- 31,283
Day 1
This may well have been the most bizarre way I ever spent a birthday. I had set the alarm for 6:30 and I woke up just before the alarm went off. I quickly checked my emails. This was just as well. I had an email from Nespresso that my subscription payment had failed. I got a new debit card at the end of October and for some reason even though I had changed this as soon as I got it, this was not recognised. A quick call to their customer services seemed to fix the issue. Apparently, they could see the new card details, but the card was not showing as active. A few moments later this was rectified, and I was assured that the card would be debited within a couple of days. As I write this, a couple of phone calls and a visit to the local Nespresso boutique later, this still has not been resolved. Still the December payment was taken as scheduled and I figure they can contact me when they are finally good and ready to take the payment.
Once I got off the phone, I thought everything was resolved and there was nothing else that needed my attention. So, I got showered and dressed. We switched off all the sockets and the water and while I packed the last odds and ends, Graham took the rubbish and recycling out. Then we headed out. Graham suggested that I could take the tram to the station and he would meet me there. I have an annual pass, but I left this on my desk. I did not fancy going back upstairs to get this, so I walked to the station with Graham.
For once, it did not rain and although it was cold, the walk was pleasant. When we got to the station, Graham sorted out the tickets while I stayed with the luggage. We then checked the train times. It had been a while since I took a train to the airport. Even though 2019 was probably a record year for flying, usually those flights were at the crack of dawn and that meant taking a taxi or Uber. Since I regularly commuted to the airport, the way the train service to the airport works has changed quite a lot. Back then, most airport services left from the main station with a few leaving from the satellite platforms. Now it is the other way round. The next train from the main station was a while away and there were multiple trains from the satellite platforms before then. We decided to head over there even though this is a bit of a pain with luggage. In the end this turned out to be a mistake. There were creeping delays and the train from the main station came and left while we were still waiting. The drawback of the satellite platforms is that they are completely exposed to the elements and by the time a train finally arrived, I was frozen to the core. I did not completely thaw out until a couple of hours into the flight.
From that point onwards, things worked like clockwork. We had a clear run to the airport. Check in was very quiet. We waited maybe 5 minutes if even that. I was absolutely delighted that my suitcase only weighed 20 kg. That meant that there was plenty of room for souvenirs. We had a luggage allowance of 30 kg each. Security was just as quiet and in no time at all, we were in the main departures area. We went for some breakfast. The breakfast options at terminal 2 at Manchester airport are currently a little limited. We went to Frankie and Benny’s. We both had an orange juice. Graham had an Americano and I had a Flat White. Graham had The Big, which consisted of two sausages, two rashers of bacon, black pudding, two fried eggs, tomato, flat mushroom, Heinz baked beans and crispy herb potatoes. I fancied the Veggie Fry Up with two fried eggs, veggie sausage, flat mushroom, roasted tomato, Heinz baked beans, cubed potatoes and smashed avocado. When our server took the order, he advised that they did not have avocado. As this was the main reason why I had chosen this, I changed my mind. I had the Traditional Fry Up, which consisted of sausage, bacon, fried egg, roasted tomato, flat mushroom, Heinz baked beans and crispy herb potatoes. Breakfast definitely hit the spot.
After breakfast, I checked out the main duty-free shop and a couple of other shops. I had hoped to get a limited make-up set that had not appeared yet in the city centre and they did not have this either. I also wanted the Pandora Santa Stitch charm, which they had not yet received either. Both of them had sold out locally by the time we got back, but I managed to get them through mail order in the post-Christmas sales. I did not buy anything that day. After a bit more browsing, we went back to the main departures area and noticed that our plane was parked in the distance. We decided to head over there.
Manchester airport is currently being completely rebuilt. The extension for terminal 2 is due to be completed by July and then the old part of terminal 2 will be completely rebuilt. The first part of the extension opened back in March and this is where our aircraft was parked. The access route from the main terminal was pretty strange. I just looked like a series of tunnels with fibreglass walls. I hope that this is just a temporary arrangement until the rest of the extension opens. I liked the actual new gate area. It is bright and modern. Graham was not a fan. He felt that it was too functional. What it definitely was is a bit of a ghost town. One flight had just closed, one flight was boarding and ours was not even listed yet. That was the grand total of activity in an area that is 262 meters long. We got intercepted by a member of staff just as we were entering the gate area to check if we were in the right place. Once we had sat down, another member of staff came up to us to check if we were where we were supposed to be. Apparently, they get a lot of issues with people going to the wrong gate area and missing their flights. I really don’t understand how this can happen as this is completely separate from the old gates, but airports do tend to bring out the worst in people.
I checked in on Facebook and read and responded to all the birthday wishes. I also checked the Hong Kong Disneyland website and spotted something that did not make me happy. I was kind of half planning to go into the park at some stage the next day. My annual pass was blocked out over the weekend, but not on the Friday. I was hoping to get some sleep on arrival and then head over to the park to do some rides and watch Paint the Night. When I checked the calendar, I spotted that the park was opening at 10:30 instead of 10:00 and closing at 19:00 instead of 20:00. They also had cancelled Paint the Night.
We still had some time until boarding opened. I browsed Facebook, read for a bit and played a game on my iPad. Shortly before boarding was due to commence, I went to the bathroom. Boarding started shortly afterwards. This was the smoothest boarding process I ever experienced. Even though the plane was full, from start to finish, this only took 15 minutes.
Cathay Pacific is one of those airlines that charge an arm and a leg for reserving seats in advance. It does become free when online check opens 48 hours prior to departure. I had done online check in as soon as I could, but there were no two seats next to each other that involved aisle seat, which is Graham’s preference. So, I had gone for a window and a middle seat. Graham was not particularly happy about this. I checked the situation again about 36 hours before we were due to fly. There was one row that had a window and an aisle seat with the middle seat taken. I changed our seats over. I was hoping to sleep the majority of the flight anyway, so I did not mind having the window seat with somebody sitting between us. When we got on the plane, the person in the middle seat asked if one of us wanted to swap with him. Graham was quick to agree and volunteered the window seat. I ended up in the middle seat. Happy birthday to me! To give him credit, when he realised that I was not too happy, he offered that I could have the aisle seat and he would take the middle seat. I did not take him up on the offer. I hate aisle seats, especially if I am trying to sleep as inevitably at some stage I get bumped by a cart.
Once we all settled down, I checked out what films were on offer and then I read for a bit. It did not take long after we were at cruising altitude that they came around with drinks. I was quite surprised that they served us peanuts as snacks. I had a mango juice and Graham had a glass of white wine. We both had some water as well. At the same time as the drinks service, they also gave out menus.
Another half an hour later, they started the meal service. I was pretty impressed with the menu. We both had Pastrami with potato dill salad. I was even more impressed when the bread rolls that were served with this were warm. Graham had the Western option, which was chicken breast with herb butter, mashed potatoes and Mediterranean vegetables. I went with the Chinese option after doing some research. The Chinese option was braised pork with Wuxi sauce, broccoli and steamed Jasmine rice. Chinese food can be very spicy. However, food served in Hong Kong, the Guangxi and Guangdong provinces and around Shanghai tends to be mild with a bit of sweetness to it. A look on the inflight map told me that Wuxi is a little way southwest of Shanghai. I knew that this would be OK. It was not just OK, but absolutely delicious. Dessert was vanilla ice cream and I was delighted when one of the after-dinner drinks options was Chinese tea. It was a passable cup of tea as well.
After lunch, I put on a film. There are a handful of films that although I love them dearly, have the ability to send me to sleep when combined with movement. The Greatest Showman is one of those movies. I fell asleep during A Million Dreams, briefly woke up during This Is Me to change position and then woke up again during From Now On. I was hoping to get some more sleep so put on Frozen, which is another film that tends to send me off to dreamland. However, I actually managed to watch the whole film. Once this was finished, I put on some music and spent the next few hours alternately reading and napping.
This may well have been the most bizarre way I ever spent a birthday. I had set the alarm for 6:30 and I woke up just before the alarm went off. I quickly checked my emails. This was just as well. I had an email from Nespresso that my subscription payment had failed. I got a new debit card at the end of October and for some reason even though I had changed this as soon as I got it, this was not recognised. A quick call to their customer services seemed to fix the issue. Apparently, they could see the new card details, but the card was not showing as active. A few moments later this was rectified, and I was assured that the card would be debited within a couple of days. As I write this, a couple of phone calls and a visit to the local Nespresso boutique later, this still has not been resolved. Still the December payment was taken as scheduled and I figure they can contact me when they are finally good and ready to take the payment.
Once I got off the phone, I thought everything was resolved and there was nothing else that needed my attention. So, I got showered and dressed. We switched off all the sockets and the water and while I packed the last odds and ends, Graham took the rubbish and recycling out. Then we headed out. Graham suggested that I could take the tram to the station and he would meet me there. I have an annual pass, but I left this on my desk. I did not fancy going back upstairs to get this, so I walked to the station with Graham.
For once, it did not rain and although it was cold, the walk was pleasant. When we got to the station, Graham sorted out the tickets while I stayed with the luggage. We then checked the train times. It had been a while since I took a train to the airport. Even though 2019 was probably a record year for flying, usually those flights were at the crack of dawn and that meant taking a taxi or Uber. Since I regularly commuted to the airport, the way the train service to the airport works has changed quite a lot. Back then, most airport services left from the main station with a few leaving from the satellite platforms. Now it is the other way round. The next train from the main station was a while away and there were multiple trains from the satellite platforms before then. We decided to head over there even though this is a bit of a pain with luggage. In the end this turned out to be a mistake. There were creeping delays and the train from the main station came and left while we were still waiting. The drawback of the satellite platforms is that they are completely exposed to the elements and by the time a train finally arrived, I was frozen to the core. I did not completely thaw out until a couple of hours into the flight.
From that point onwards, things worked like clockwork. We had a clear run to the airport. Check in was very quiet. We waited maybe 5 minutes if even that. I was absolutely delighted that my suitcase only weighed 20 kg. That meant that there was plenty of room for souvenirs. We had a luggage allowance of 30 kg each. Security was just as quiet and in no time at all, we were in the main departures area. We went for some breakfast. The breakfast options at terminal 2 at Manchester airport are currently a little limited. We went to Frankie and Benny’s. We both had an orange juice. Graham had an Americano and I had a Flat White. Graham had The Big, which consisted of two sausages, two rashers of bacon, black pudding, two fried eggs, tomato, flat mushroom, Heinz baked beans and crispy herb potatoes. I fancied the Veggie Fry Up with two fried eggs, veggie sausage, flat mushroom, roasted tomato, Heinz baked beans, cubed potatoes and smashed avocado. When our server took the order, he advised that they did not have avocado. As this was the main reason why I had chosen this, I changed my mind. I had the Traditional Fry Up, which consisted of sausage, bacon, fried egg, roasted tomato, flat mushroom, Heinz baked beans and crispy herb potatoes. Breakfast definitely hit the spot.
After breakfast, I checked out the main duty-free shop and a couple of other shops. I had hoped to get a limited make-up set that had not appeared yet in the city centre and they did not have this either. I also wanted the Pandora Santa Stitch charm, which they had not yet received either. Both of them had sold out locally by the time we got back, but I managed to get them through mail order in the post-Christmas sales. I did not buy anything that day. After a bit more browsing, we went back to the main departures area and noticed that our plane was parked in the distance. We decided to head over there.
Manchester airport is currently being completely rebuilt. The extension for terminal 2 is due to be completed by July and then the old part of terminal 2 will be completely rebuilt. The first part of the extension opened back in March and this is where our aircraft was parked. The access route from the main terminal was pretty strange. I just looked like a series of tunnels with fibreglass walls. I hope that this is just a temporary arrangement until the rest of the extension opens. I liked the actual new gate area. It is bright and modern. Graham was not a fan. He felt that it was too functional. What it definitely was is a bit of a ghost town. One flight had just closed, one flight was boarding and ours was not even listed yet. That was the grand total of activity in an area that is 262 meters long. We got intercepted by a member of staff just as we were entering the gate area to check if we were in the right place. Once we had sat down, another member of staff came up to us to check if we were where we were supposed to be. Apparently, they get a lot of issues with people going to the wrong gate area and missing their flights. I really don’t understand how this can happen as this is completely separate from the old gates, but airports do tend to bring out the worst in people.
I checked in on Facebook and read and responded to all the birthday wishes. I also checked the Hong Kong Disneyland website and spotted something that did not make me happy. I was kind of half planning to go into the park at some stage the next day. My annual pass was blocked out over the weekend, but not on the Friday. I was hoping to get some sleep on arrival and then head over to the park to do some rides and watch Paint the Night. When I checked the calendar, I spotted that the park was opening at 10:30 instead of 10:00 and closing at 19:00 instead of 20:00. They also had cancelled Paint the Night.
We still had some time until boarding opened. I browsed Facebook, read for a bit and played a game on my iPad. Shortly before boarding was due to commence, I went to the bathroom. Boarding started shortly afterwards. This was the smoothest boarding process I ever experienced. Even though the plane was full, from start to finish, this only took 15 minutes.
Cathay Pacific is one of those airlines that charge an arm and a leg for reserving seats in advance. It does become free when online check opens 48 hours prior to departure. I had done online check in as soon as I could, but there were no two seats next to each other that involved aisle seat, which is Graham’s preference. So, I had gone for a window and a middle seat. Graham was not particularly happy about this. I checked the situation again about 36 hours before we were due to fly. There was one row that had a window and an aisle seat with the middle seat taken. I changed our seats over. I was hoping to sleep the majority of the flight anyway, so I did not mind having the window seat with somebody sitting between us. When we got on the plane, the person in the middle seat asked if one of us wanted to swap with him. Graham was quick to agree and volunteered the window seat. I ended up in the middle seat. Happy birthday to me! To give him credit, when he realised that I was not too happy, he offered that I could have the aisle seat and he would take the middle seat. I did not take him up on the offer. I hate aisle seats, especially if I am trying to sleep as inevitably at some stage I get bumped by a cart.
Once we all settled down, I checked out what films were on offer and then I read for a bit. It did not take long after we were at cruising altitude that they came around with drinks. I was quite surprised that they served us peanuts as snacks. I had a mango juice and Graham had a glass of white wine. We both had some water as well. At the same time as the drinks service, they also gave out menus.
Another half an hour later, they started the meal service. I was pretty impressed with the menu. We both had Pastrami with potato dill salad. I was even more impressed when the bread rolls that were served with this were warm. Graham had the Western option, which was chicken breast with herb butter, mashed potatoes and Mediterranean vegetables. I went with the Chinese option after doing some research. The Chinese option was braised pork with Wuxi sauce, broccoli and steamed Jasmine rice. Chinese food can be very spicy. However, food served in Hong Kong, the Guangxi and Guangdong provinces and around Shanghai tends to be mild with a bit of sweetness to it. A look on the inflight map told me that Wuxi is a little way southwest of Shanghai. I knew that this would be OK. It was not just OK, but absolutely delicious. Dessert was vanilla ice cream and I was delighted when one of the after-dinner drinks options was Chinese tea. It was a passable cup of tea as well.
After lunch, I put on a film. There are a handful of films that although I love them dearly, have the ability to send me to sleep when combined with movement. The Greatest Showman is one of those movies. I fell asleep during A Million Dreams, briefly woke up during This Is Me to change position and then woke up again during From Now On. I was hoping to get some more sleep so put on Frozen, which is another film that tends to send me off to dreamland. However, I actually managed to watch the whole film. Once this was finished, I put on some music and spent the next few hours alternately reading and napping.
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