Welcome to Ted’s Blog. Well it would be a blog---if I had mastered blogger.com ---but in the meantime this email/word document must suffice.
I am writing this at 10.35 am in the Qantas Club lounge in Melbourne. Our flight to Tokyo was due to leave at 9.30 but plane has not yet arrived. We are told boarding may be some time after 12.15!!!
Not to worry we had an exciting start to the day. Up at 5, leave Tonimbuk at 6. The plan was to leave BMW with Nicholas in Elsternwick at 7 and get taxi to airport for 8am check in.
Did not work out that way. Freeway was incredibly busyeven as early as 6; fog and end of school holidays did not help. Reached the South Gippsland feed in and traffic crawled. It was obvious we would not get to Nicholas at Elsternwick before 7.30 and no way we would be at airport by 8.
Activate contingency plan A- call Nicholas (who is suffering from Tonsillitis) and say we will leave BMW at RACV club in city and he can collect it from there.
As we continue down freeway to city the traffic gets even slower. Doubt we can make RACV club and then airport in time. Brenda and I do not speak but both have thoughts of Paris last August and our missed flight to Oslo!!!
Activate contingency plan B. Call Nicholas and tell him we are driving directly to airport. Will leave car there. He can get cab to airport and recover car at his leisure. Not the most convenient arrangement but it means we should make the plane.
No sooner had we done his than text message arrives on phone. I am driving but under instruction Brenda recovers the message. A note from Qantas to say that departure of QF 179 to Tokyo is now estimated at 11.00. Relief on my part- we will definitely make the plane- with hours to spare. Brenda is equally pleased but points out that delayed arrival in Tokyo makes it likely we will miss the last limousine bus to the hotel. This will mean lugging cases on train and the across Tokyo - a pleasure yet to come.
Anyway armed with his advice we abort plan B and revert to plan A. Staff at RACV club very helpful; taxi organised; car left with valet parking for Nicholas to collect.
Taxi driver is equally helpful and pleasant. Unusually for Melbourne these days he is not from the subcontinent- or places further afield. Speaks and understands the Queen’s English- or at least the ocker version. Has us at airport by 8.15 and seems genuinely grateful for a reasonable tip.
Entering the terminal our adventures continue. We find Qantas Club members have been lumped with Premium Economy at check in. A long queue but we should be grateful we were not with the ordinary economy cattle whose queue stretches for 200 metres around the terminal. (In fact our tickets are DISCOUNT economy- don’t know where they are supposed to queue.)
45 minutes later we manage to check in and make our way to Qantas lounge. Wonder how we would have got on had plane not been delayed.
Since arriving at the airport we have not seen a Qantas person who seems to be ejoying his/her job
Wells its’ now 11.30 am (yes I am a slow typist!!) and they have unexpectedly called the flight but I suspect this is just a ploy to get us out of the lounge. Will wait for the second call.
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