CA 174 and the start to a Long Trek Home

Hey you. I know, I know I’m sorry but it’s time for us to head to the Sydney airport. Believe me, I’m as depressed about leaving as you are but we’ve got at least two more exciting things to look forward to before getting back to the US, Sushi Yoshitake and NH 2. In the meantime, let me give you a quick overview of our itinerary tonight.

We’ll be flying from Sydney to Beijing on Air China Flight 174, an Airbus 330, in Business Class (no first class exists on the plane). The flight departs at 8pm local time in Sydney and lands tomorrow morning at 530am local time in Beijing. At 11.5 hours long this is going to be one of our longest flights but I specifically chose this over other options because of the all-important lie-flat beds we’ll have on this flight. Similar to the Turkish Airways lie-flat beds we’ll be on later this summer, these lie-flats have an open ottoman for feet so we should be in good shape to sleep for most of the flight.

Mr. Taxi Driver, right here will do. Thank you very much – here are the very last Australian Dollars I have. Okay let’s go back to that Koru Lounge we stopped in briefly 2.5 weeks ago on our way to New Zealand. Oh look – I think that’s the plane taking us tonight, I’m not sure if you can see it through this rain but it’s that plane in Star Alliance livery back there:



Okay, let’s continue on to the lounge. Now I would’ve preferred to show you the Singapore Airlines Silverkris lounge next door, but alas it closes at 6pm so we’ll have to go next door to the Koru Lounge:



We’ll eat on the flight but if you don’t mind since it’s 6:30pm, I’m going to grab a couple pieces of bread, a pie, and a beer to tide me over until we eat on the plane:







Apart from being a bit emptier, this place looks exactly like it did when we were here a couple weeks ago, in fact I’m pretty sure we’re sitting in the exact same seats:





Ahh they’ve just announced boarding is set to commence let’s go ahead and head down there. Wait, don’t forget your ticket!!



A quick check of our passports and we’re good to board the plane, I’m in 12D (middle section left side when facing forward) and you’re in 12A (left side window – it’s a 2x2x2 layout)! Hmm let’s take a look at what we’ve got for a cabin and seat here:







“Excuse me sir, our daughter has seat 12C (left side aisle) and the other three of us in her family are sitting in the middle block in 12H, 13D, and 13H, do you mind switching seats with her so she can sit next to her brother?”

“Of course not, I’d be happy to switch with her”

Especially since 12C is still an aisle I have really don’ no objections, most importantly as you there are no footwells just open ottomans, so it’s really easy for window passengers to get out without disturbing the person in the aisle seat. Plus now I can sit next to you since you’re in 12A.

Okay now where were we, oh right we were looking at the seat, oh and yes Ms. Flight Attendant, I’ll take a glass of champagne:



Ah and thank you for the menu, why don’t we take a look at our options as we get ready to take-off and get up in the air:

Chinese Lunch / Dinner

Amouse Bouche (sic)
Smoked Eel with Pickled Ginger
Date filled with Cream Cheese
Shitake Mushroom with Leek
Prawn with Tomato Salsa
Beef Skewer
Crab in Pastry

Appetizer
Salted Chicken Thigh served with Cherry Tomato and Coriander

Chinese Salad
Peanut and Cucumber Salad

Main Courses
Braised Pork with Pikled (sic) Cabbage served with Steamed Rice and Green Bean Sauté with Onion

OR

Steamed Barrumundi with Ginger and Mushroom served with Steamed Rice, Bok Choy, and Braised Mushroom

OR

Grilled Vegetarian Soy Protein served with Choy Sum and Brocooli (sic) & Babycorn Stir Fry

Dessert
Blueberry Oval Cake

OR

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

Seasonal Fresh Fruit

Western Lunch / Dinner

Amouse Bouche
Smoked Eel with Pickled Ginger
Date filled with Cream Cheese
Shitake Mushroom with Leek
Prawn with Tomato Salsa
Beef Skewer
Crab in Pastry

Western Style Appetizer
Grilled Prawn and Smoked Chicken with Asparagus and Daikon Salad

Salad
Baby Cos Lettuce with Cherry Tomato, Capsicum, and Grated Parmesan Cheese served with French Dressing or Caesar Dressing

Assorted Bread Roll Served with Butter

Main Courses
Herb Marinated Lamb Rack with Honey and Garlice (sic) Sauce served with Smashed Potato and Sautéed Spinach

Dessert
Blueberry Oval Cake

OR

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

OR

Selection of Cheese with Crackers

Seasonal Fresh Fruit







Hmmm, I know you’ll be disappointed in my selection but I’m going to stick with the western dish. Oh and for wines we’re pretty limited in our options, we have two reds and two whites to choose from, with one red and one white from France and the other red and white from China.

Okay I’ll start with the French White, a Vin De Pays De L’Herault – Spirit of Nature – Domaine de Petit Roubié Viognier.

Oh – I just select one of the appetizers listed on the menu from your cart? Can I have two? You know what nevermind, we’ll keep this simple and I’ll take a Beef Skewer – feel free to take whichever appetizer you want:



Actually not too bad – it’s not caviar but it’s on par with appetizers we had in F on Thai (and it’s sooooooooooooo much better than the pate / foie gras)

Okay next up we’ve got the salad and the prawn appetizer:



Good, but nothing special. Definitely better than what we’d get if we were on a United flight right now, though not sure how much that’s saying.

Oh and while you were in the bathroom they came around to refill our wine glasses. They’re out of the French white (shocking that the French wine went first) so I’ve gotten us glasses of the Chinese Riesling and it’s well, it’s not terrible, but it’s by far the worst wine we’ve been served on the trip:



Okay, bring on the lamb!



Mmmmm – pretty tasty! A bit well done for my taste but we are on a plane so I’ll let that slide. I’m impressed that they actually put some seasoning on it and those tomatoes and mashed potatoes are a nice accompaniment.

I’m really tempted to get us the blueberry cake now for dessert (because I love blueberries) but I just saw the person up in 11H get the Chocolate Mousse and it looks quite good:



Delicious!

Well I hate to do this to you but I’m exhausted. I know we’ve still got about somewhere between 9 and 10 hours left to go on the flight so I’m going to try and catch a few hours, I’ll catch up with you a bit later

8.75 hours later

Holy crap, you’re waking us up for breakfast? Where are we? Just 75 minutes outside of Beijing? Oh. My. I just slept for nearly 9 hours on a plane! I can’t believe it. Though did you wake up when we hit that turbulence in the middle of the night? No? Well I don’t know what time it was but we hit some extreme turbulence. I managed to go back to sleep within about two minutes before being woken up again about an hour later (I think) for another round. I’m not going to lie, given that we’re just four weeks out from MH370 and flying a fairly similar route up to PEK, that turbulence was a bit more nerve wracking than normal.

Anyway, whew, I am well rested now for our afternoon and evening coming up in Tokyo.

Oh yes Ms. Flight Attendant, sorry let me look at the breakfast menu quickly.

Western Breakfast

Hot Entrée
Chive Omelette Roll with Roasted Herb Tomato, Potato Wedge, and Chicken Chipolata

Breakfast Pastry
Snail Danish
Blueberry Danish
Chocolate Danish
Croissant
Ciabatta and Fruit Brioche

Seasonal Fresh Fruit

Cereal



Okay, I’m going to stop right there. I’ll take the Omelette, fruit, and cereal, no pastry, thanks!



Mmm, tasty, it looks like you enjoyed yours too; I don’t see anything left on your plate!

Time to land – I’ll meet you at the Air China Business Class lounge!