After several hours I wake up after another fantastic sleep, and we are nearly in Sydney. I cannot believe how quickly the time has gone – we seem to have got to Australia in no time at all, and my body seems fresh and mostly in sync with the time of the day. I really am going to have to recommend first class to all of my customers!
After another breakfast of coffee and yoghurt, we are almost ready for landing. Paul had the dinner last night, and had a hot breakfast with pastries etc. He is really getting into the swing of it now!
It has all gone far too smoothly so far! We are handed Express Passes on the way out of the door – wonder what they do? We soon find out. Instead of joining the long queue for “All other passports” we go to the express lane, and join at the front of the queue. Through immigration, and the officer manages to book me in without speaking one word. Well, I suppose it is 5.30am. The cases are on the carousel when we get there, and then spy another express lane to get through customs. No problems there either. There are signs for a Terminal Transfer Bus, and Qantas Domestic Transfers. As we are on a Qantas flight now to Perth, and then onward to Broome (I know, I should have got a better travel agent!) we follow the Qantas route. Simple. We check in the bags before we get on the transfer bus, so that is a big plus when arriving into Sydney. Once the bags are checked in, we wait a few minutes for a transfer bus that takes us to the domestic terminal (about ten minutes) and then on to the business class lounge. Yes, you have guessed it. Qantas is a partner to BA, and so my Avios points have got me all my internal flights within Australia, and in business class where they have it. It is really worth adding the points up!
The flight was due to leave at 08:10 for the four and a half hour journey to Perth – and the clocks have now got to be put back two hours. I somehow think that I will not be offered champagne at this hour in the morning, and I am right. Apple juice instead – doesn’t quite have the same ring to it! As soon as we have taken off – around half an hour late – we are offered another breakfast. This time though, the food is more like normal plane food – not really very nice at all. So I stick to yoghurt. Things are not going to be the same ever again if I don’t get to sit in the nose of the plane! Even though I thought my body clock has readjusted, I felt really tired so put the bed down (no-one to give a mattress topper or duvet!) and had a couple of hours sleep. The flight went really quickly again, and soon we were descending into a fairly foggy Perth. We are going to be here for four hours waiting for the connecting flight – and the last one to Broome is in economy, as it is a one class flight. I thought we would have a go at using the Qantas Lounge, even though the onward flight is economy, having arrived into Perth in Business I thought was a good enough reason. Having shown the business class boarding pass to Perth, that wasn’t good enough. The economy boarding pass came out, and was rejected. I then explained that we were originally booked directly from Sydney to Broome, but the Qantas flight was pulled. We then got the sympathy vote, and they let us in! I think with all the Qantas flight changes that are going on at the moment they are probably getting a bit of flack, so are being kind to people that have been re-routed. The laptop battery was on its last legs, and the adapter is in the hold case. A very kind Australian gentlemen, Nigel Fort, who worked with the Australian Government on defence consultations, had a laptop plugged in and gave us his lead, so we had a half an hour boost! He was originally born in the UK, and he and Paul reminisced about various motor cycles they owned/had owned. Then Paul swaps his boarding pass for an adapter from the reception desk – must remember to take it back or there will only be one of us going onward! These four hours went very slowly – I think now I am ready for a good nights sleep in a proper bed. Paul, on the other hand, has put his feet up on his case and is snoring like a trooper. Getting a few strange looks, so I just shrug my shoulders. They only have to put up with it for an hour or two!
Paul does remember to get his boarding pass back, so he continues on the journey with me! This next flight, although a Qantas flight number says it is operated by National Jet Airlines. We have to queue up (oh my god!) to get on, and then get on a bus. Perhaps it’s Ryanair then? No, can’t be. We have seat numbers. The bus then meanders around the airport, as if looking for the plane, and not seeming to find it. We then go past the same set of planes again, and a woman with a yellow jacket gets out, and looks as if she asking “is this is the number 56 to Broome?”. It obviously was, because she beckoned and we all got out. Our luggage should have been tagged straight through from Sydney – what chance does that have if they can’t get the people on! The plane is labelled “Qantaslink”, so I suppose that is a bit confusing.
I think the pilot, and the crew, are all YTS’s. One lad keeps walking up and down the aisle taking two packets of pretzels at a time to give to people – and they turn out to not even be pretzels! I wonder if he has ever been shown a quicker way of serving people? They eventually manage to get drinks, and a small sandwich tray to everyone, and get it all cleared away before we land. The flight is just two and a half hours, so goes quite quickly. We were afforded a beautiful sunset out of the window at around 5.45pm – fifteen minutes out from landing. Then the plane seems to have been taken over by a five year old. One minute, on the descent, we were pushed back into the chairs because the plane was speeding up so fast, and the next it seemed as if the brakes went on. We were one height, then another, then back up again. By this time the sun had gone down and it was virtually black outside. I wonder if the pilot couldn’t see anything either? The landing was one of the hardest and bumpiest I have ever experienced, and fastest. The brakes went on so hard you could hear all the bags in the overhead locker hitting the end walls, and everything that wasn’t held in place went forward. I heard several remarks like “I need a change of underwear now”, so it wasn’t just me! But we arrived safely into a beautiful little airport that looked as if it should have been in the Caribbean.
We walked the twenty or so yards to the arrivals hall, which was like a square box with everything in it. One carousel, and a couple of car hire and hotel desks. Nothing else. But from the time we landed until the time we were walking out, with all our luggage, was less than twenty minutes. We are staying at the Cable Beach Club Resort & Spa, which is on Cable Beach. They have a desk at the airport, and a complimentary shuttle bus that takes us to the hotel. Very quick and efficient. That is where the speed and efficiency ends. The bus was fairly full, around eight couples, who are obviously all going to want to check in once they arrive. The driver was excellent, very friendly. He told us to go and check in whilst he unloaded the luggage, then come out and the porters would take the luggage and show us to our room. Sounds perfect. Unfortunately not. After queuing for just over twenty minutes, as there were only two check in staff on duty and neither was particularly in a hurry, it was my turn. No – the check in girl that should have been free decided to sort out another guest and then issue tennis racquets and balls to a couple of children that turned up. I didn’t mind, but it would have been nice if I had been acknowledged and asked, as I had been standing there for so long.
We checked in OK, and I asked if I could have a later check out than 10.00am as we will be boarding the ship tomorrow at 2.30pm. This had been requested with my booking – so again should not have been a surprise. No – point blank I was told that she “was under strict instructions not to give any late check outs”. Not exactly customer service orientated then. I explained that we had been travelling since Wednesday afternoon and it is now Friday evening, so a relaxing morning would be more than welcome. I also explained that I am a Travel Agent, and having not got any cheaper rate than Joe Bloggs (slipped up there, but should have been staying in Sydney tonight before the direct Sydney to Broome flight for tomorrow was pulled a few weeks ago, and then had to sort out a hotel with fairly late notice) that perhaps they could let me stay a couple more hours so that I could have a full site inspection for any future recommendations I may make. There must be people arriving at 7.00pm tomorrow on the same flight as we had just arrived on, so a 1pm checkout should be no problem at all. No – I can now have the room, but have to pay half the daily rate. On principle, I politely tell them to shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. I don’t think that I will be recommending this hotel to anyone – but as I have been travelling for rather a long time I might now be a bit grumpy! It certainly hasn’t made me go to my room with a spring in my step, as I should have been doing. The room is rather nice though. But the hardware without the software is no good at all – and how many times do you go somewhere where it is the staff and the people that make the trip. I will write more about the room in the morning, when I hope to be in a better mood! Maybe! Depends what the breakfast is like!
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