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Well we made it, just! Finally arrived in Auckland (I think) but the flights were a shocker.
First leg of the journey was from Heathrow where I met up with Michelle and Darren before we said goodbye to the families and headed off through to the departure lounge (unpacking your rucksack everytime is, surprisingly, not fun!!) After some food and some excited chatter and lots of bouncing around we went down to the gate for boarding.
Unfortunately, we discovered that even though we booked the flights together that we werent sat together and it was too late to try and change seats. So I spent the whole flight from Heathrow to Bangkok sat next to a man who drank (and ate) a lot! Still, as far as seat buddies for a 10 hour flight to Bangkok goes, it could have been worse!
Anyway, we were due to leave at 10pm but ended up just sat on the plane until nearly 11pm, so got a chance to settle a bit before taking off.
The flight itself was fine and I got up quite a bit so I could just wander around to see Mish and Darren - there was one slightly awkward moment where I asked Mish what she was watching on the in-flight entertainment which went a little something like this:
Me: What are you watching?
Mish: Paul
Me: What?
Mish: Paul
Me: *shocked face* What!?
Mish: PAUL P.A.U.L
Me: OHH Paul! Christ, I thought you were saying PORN!!!
Anywho.... after scurring back to my own seat rather embarrassed, I made a mental note only to speak to Michelle when I was actually stood next to her, and not shouting across a plane full of people.
When I got back to my seat, I saw that food was being served so sat down and had a look at the menu - I had roast lamb with vegetables and as the cabin crew handed the guy next to me his plate he dropped a bread roll on me (cue apology and a bit of laughing) not a problem, this time... Next time the food came round, he gave me my plate and dropped another piece of food on me that landed on my boobs (and stayed there) to which he just reached out and grabbed it!!? Er, thank you!?? (cue more apologising and more laughing...)
The rest of the flight went by thoroughly uneventfully and I managed to get about 2 hours sleep before I was woken by somebody asking me if I wanted a cooked breakfast or continental?....well, the mere thought of food 2 seconds after I had woken up from an uncomfortable night on a stuffy plane was not appealing so I respectfully declined.
The guy next to me however, not only had his but had the CHEEK to ask for mine too (!) (which he got by the way) so as the cabin crew passed his plate over to him he, wait for it, DROPPED A BLOODY CRANBERRY DANISH ON MY LAP! *cue forced smile and morning death stare from Stephy* I had neither the energy nor the inclination to laugh with him about it at that point as it really wasnt funny (at the time) so I asked him for some water just so he would go away and stop apologising!!
Soon after, we arrived in Bangkok - bloody nora it was humid - we hadn't even left the plane and I was already feeling it! As I was walking off to meet Mish and Darren, a guy asked me if I was travelling to NZ for the rugby to which I raised a questioning eyebrow as he quickly explained that he had seen my Welsh Rugby cap (phew). After some quick converstation I found out that he was sat behind me on the plane and that he was a rugby sports writer for the South Wales Argus (Robin Davey) and that he was travelling with 4 or 5 other sports writers for Welsh papers. SWEET! First item on the check list, 'Befriend somebody with press access to the games' DONE! He stayed with us then for the rest of the stop over and we all talked for a bit before boarding.
One memorable moment was Michelle who became particular taken with a sign in Bangkok airport which just said W.I.P on it, cue a new accent and a clever reference to a VIP and we have Michelle a new nickname - WIP a Wery Important Person....
As we got back to our seats on the plane I realised to my horror that new people had got on the plane next to me and that I was now sat next to the most sickeningly lovey-dovey smoochy woochy Spanish couple (woopee) It was then that I got saved by a cabin crew member who walked up to me and said:
51C?
*nod*
Do you want to change seats?
*nod*
The passenger next to your friends said she would change seats.
(SWEEEETT! - Adios Spanish Smoochers!!)
After a quick goodbye to Robin and saying we'd see him at Sydney I got my stuff and moved over to Mish and Darren - has to be said the lady that moved didn't look happy about it and it was then that Mish mentioned she had already been moved twice....oops, nevermind! - happily sat with my friends we settled down to the flight, this one was not so good and we actually got hit by turbulence and a thunder and lightening storm in the middle of the flight (s***TTTTTT) but all was well, and it passed and we went back to normal.
Food on this flight was Spicy Pork or Chicken - Michelle and I went for Pork and Darren, Chicken. We also got offered Ice Creams (at what I think we worked out as being 2am) and Michelle and Darren both had one, until that is, Darren realised it wasn't in fact the hot towel he thought it was and passed it back to me to hand to the cabin crew who just laughed along with Mish and I.
The rest of the flight was spent trying to sleep, watching films and trying to stop one side of my face being frozen from the air con being blown constantly down the aisles...
When we got off the plane in Sydney two things happened:
1. We all meet up with Robin and the other guys from the papers and I got some contact details for him so that I could drop him a message when at the Wales v Samoa game in Hamilton (YES!)
2. My stomach was BAD and all of us were suffereing from dizzy spells particularly after eating, but I started to get quite panicked as we still had another 3 hour flight to contend with on a small connector plane from Sydney to Auckland and this was NOT the time or place to have a dodgy tum!
Anyway - I sorted myself out and was fine for the flight so it wasn't as bad as it could have been but we still felt generally ropey when we landed in Auckland - we put it down to tiredness, dehydration, confusion over the time of day, the food and air con on the plane and went about getting through arrivals to meet Dale, Jacs and Chris.
My GOD I could have kissed Jacqueline - water, she bought us water, BOTTLED WATER!
I was in Auckland and I had water.
We had made it and it was brilliant to see everyone again. Let the games begin!
- comments
La Suze That's what I call a funny flight. Crazy though :) Enjoy the rugby!!