8:00pm
Tonight’s dinner consisted of the traditional Balik Salmon Appetizer (no caviar for me... yuck.), followed by a butternut squash soup with crayfish, and my main course of duck. The best part of the meal was the appetizer, as you can see from the thickness of the pieces of salmon. I was quite disappointed in the quality of the main , especially since it’s catered in HKG. The duck was dry and the veggies were overcooked, so I decided only to finish half of it.
At this point, B found a very strategic way of ensuring that he would be there the moment I put my fork down when I was done. He decided that he would start a movie over at 1K, and proceed to watch the movie and turn his head my way every 10 seconds or so to see how I was doing. Smart, indeed, but I really couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable at the fact that someone is watching me eat…
9:15pm
Getting a little tired, I decided to change into my snuggly Shanghai Tang jammies. While I was in the washroom, Y had helped me turn my seat into a bed (so thoughtful, I didn’t even need to ask). Upon my return, I had a nice chat with Y, and found out that she had a daughter who was looking to study overseas. As I had a similar upbringing, I told her some of my experiences and offered some advice. It felt great to be able to connect to the crew on such a personal level, and it felt like I was talking to a close friend. THIS is why I keep on flying on CX and not that so-called airline they like to call Air Canada.
9:40 pm
Y excused herself at this point since B was back and she was about to go on break. I let her leave, and told B to wake me up at around 2:30 since I wanted to start adjusting to Toronto’s time zone. I decided to settle in my bed and checked out a little more of what StudioCX had to offer before dozing off.
2:30pm
Just like an alarm clock, B came around to wake me at the exact time I asked. Now, at a more than half-asleep state (due to it being 2:30am in Hong Kong), I tried my best to force myself awake. I knew that my only chance was food. I found B in the galley, and asked him to prepare the hot pot rice for me. He informed me that it would take 30 min to heat up, so I decided to take a stroll around the plane.
2:45pm
My tour was less than productive, since both the J and Y cabins had their lights switched off already. However, I did amuse myself by engaging in a game of “trying to avoid tripping in the Y cabin by stepping over all the blankets and legs”. I stopped by quickly to chat with my friend before heading back to my seat.
3:00pm
B came by with my rice (very good, as it had lots of “fan jiu” (crispy rice at the bottom)) and a glass of oriental breeze. I asked him to open some of the shades for me so I could get some light in, which he was more than happy to do.
3:30pm
After 30 mins, I had finished what I could of the huge pot of rice, and decided to watch some TV on the IFE system. I asked B for a glass of ginger ale, which he was more than happy to bring to me. The last thing I remember was drinking half the glass…
4:45pm
I found myself waking up from my comfy seat with half a glass of ginger ale left and a little dish of chocolate beside me. Darn, I fell asleep. At this moment, B comes by and says “Miss b-kpf are you really tired because you keep on dozing off! I guess your plan of adjusting didn’t really work out?” WOW. Talk about embarrassment. So I guess B was doing the “watch a movie and keep an eye on my passenger” trick again. Oh boy… the creepiness of having someone watch me sleep…
Side note: this little dish of chocolates have been some of the best I've had in a while, especially the two little ones in the front! They're chocolatey and crunchy in the middle. Does anyone know where they're from???
I told B that I was going to sleep a little again because I was really tired but that I still wanted breakfast. He told me to tell him my order (which consisted of fruit, a western breakfast and a dessert [that I missed from the dinner service]), and determined that he would wake me around 6:00 so I would have enough time to finish. Gosh, I’m going to be so spoilt by the end of this flight.
6:00pm
Y wakes me up this time and tells me that my breakfast will be ready in about 5 minutes. I lift my seat up as Y puts down my tablecloth and breakfast smoothie. It takes me about an hour and 15 minutes to finish everything. Feeling stuffed, I decided to relax and just snap a couple more pictures of the view outside and around the cabin.
7:30pm
The captain announces that we are about 30 minutes from our destination, and asks the cabin crew to prepare for landing. I get up to freshen up as I start thinking about how amazing this flight has been. I felt sad that it was about to come to an end.
By the time I return to my seat it has already been changed back into the position it was when I first boarded, and all the moments of lounging and relaxing are now nothing but memories. I packed up all my belongings and get strapped in, just as Y comes back into the cabin to check that I’m okay. I exchange a few more words with her and eventually with the captain’s prompt, she heads back to her seat.
8:05pm
After making some detours in the sky, we make a smooth touchdown onto runway 23 and taxi over to the furthest gate possible from immigration- C35. Anyone that has landed with CX at YYZ will know this is the most ridiculous gate ever, taking 10 minutes to quick walk from the gate to immigration.
I manage to snap a quick photo with the crew right before I disembark. This crew was definitely one of the best crews I’ve had on all my flights, and if any of them ever reads this, thank you for such a pleasant experience.
I was met with a nightmarish scene at immigration, with at least 4 international flights all waiting in that small area. What made it worse was that I chose - I found out eventually- the slower line, and spent, in the end, more than an hour just to pass passport control. 1-Toronto airport, 0-Me.
Once through, I spent yet another 15 minutes wondering at the luggage belt how my suitcases could possibly not be out yet until I saw a whole group of cases just sitting beside the belt itself. 2- Toronto airport, 0- Me.
9:35pm
I finally step out into the arrivals hall of the airport, and was met with a chilly evening in Toronto. Even though my trip ended on a sour note, thank you CX, for such a great time. See you again in June.