Hi from France!
Pity we did not get to meet Willy!
I arrived back yesterday after a 31 hour trip, I started out from Jiangmen at noon on a bus to Hong Kong, crossed the border in Shekou (Shenzhen) and got back on the same bus on the other side and later got dropped off somewhere in Hong Kong, had to figure out the MTR (lucky I had some HK dollar coins) and caught the Airport Express which got me to the airport at 4pm, take off was at 6:50 pm to Doha. 9h15 flight and I slept some, then about 1 hour in Doha and another 6h45 flight to Paris. I slept some on the first leg and most of the second leg so I'm almost jet lag adjusted. I got out of Paris airport around 7:30am and took the train to Paris ... I stopped for coffee twice which made me miss a train to my home so I had to wait 90 minutes in the station :s Total of 31.5 hours door to door.
Quickie on Qatar: I'm not doing that again if I can avoid it, although their service is friendly, the return flight time totals 16 hours versus under 13 going direct, my rear end was sore after 4-5 hours as their seats are not on par with Swiss' or Cathay's. Entertainment was exactly the same on all 4 flights so I ran out of things to watch on the last leg, even with 2 weeks between the flights. Their service is decent but strange, they serve breakfast 2.5 hours before landing when I would prefer to sleep, 45 minutes before landing you're already in crash landing position and they collect the blankets way too early, interrupt the AVOD a lot during the end ... give me a break and respect your customer, it does not cost anymore to let me sleep 90 minutes longer, and I know I'm on Qatar airways so don't show me a 15 minute advert about your company, instead impress me with your customer service and consideration. I also lost my seat bookings on the first Paris-Doha flight because I checked in a little late (because of their waiting line), so I got the last row center seat ... had I missed the plane I would have had to buy another ticket, so keep my seat please! Drinks service is too light, on Cathay you get some water every 20 minutes if you're awake, on Qatar it's mostly DIY. Oh and Doha airport will stick in my memory as the Mirage airport, you see the terminal about 500m away but the bus never gets to it, seems to drive around it in circles, the transfer takes 15 minutes or so, who planned this? If their tickets are a lot cheaper than the competition, I might go for the savings. Other than that I will prefer their competitors who really do provide excellent service.
It was hard to leave my love, of course it was, I miss her and she misses me but I miss her in a peaceful way because I know we will be together soon and because I have full confidence in our feelings for each other. This feels so right it's almost like a dream, but I know I won't have to wake up because it's for real, I feel so lucky! Time for me to get up to speed at work again, investigate the administrative route for my single certificate and then it's marriage time :icon_cheesygrin:
Frank
