So, after passing through all the official channels, I found my way to the lounge, and, like the hayseed come to town that I was, marvelled at the treats available on the buffet, and the self-serve bar, including various spirits as well as wine and beer.
Eventually it came time to board, and I was ensconced in my own little cocoon (because that's what the BC seats feel like.) I was served champagne by the friendly flight attendant, and was asked to peruse the in-flight menu, to select what I would like to be served once we were in the air. A pre-dinner drink, followed by choices of entree and main course for 'dinner' that was served around midnight, once we were in the air.
During my meal. I watched a movie on the in flight entertainment system, and by the time the movie finished, it was about 1:30am (I kept my watch on Sydney time till we were almost at Abu Dhabi), and then decided to have a snooze. Now, I need to talk about the seats in BC. The seats have automated recline functions, so at the press of a button, I could move my chair forwards (for shorties like me, who might want to still sit up straight, but put their feet on the footstool), I could select 'upright' or 'relax' or 'bed' options from the automatic settings, or else manipulate the level of recline of the back of the seat, and/or how far forward the whole seat was...but wait, there's more!
There was also a massage function, with a variety of settings for location and pattern of vibrations. Needless to say, I had A LOT of fun playing with all this.
So, after the movie, I flattened the seat out to bed mode, put the sleep mask on to black out all the extraneous light, and settled down for some kip. I remember doing a bit of tossing and turning, and needing to take the occasional sip of water from my water bottle, but before I knew it, I looked at ,u watch, and it was around 8am. So I figured I must have had around 6-7 hours' sleep; perhaps not the best quality, but at least I slept, and actually felt ok when I woke up.
So then, of course, came the breakfast service.... And it was around this time that I adjusted my watch to Abu Dhabi time.
Not long after that we got into Abu Dhabi, and were told we could go to the Etihad Business Class Lounge in the airport (where I made like a Hobbit, and had a second breakfast). After a three hour layover, we were off again, en route to Paris. Again, I was plied with alcohol, bot pre-flight, and in the air, given an extravagant meal service (not only do they have real glasses, crockery and cutlery, but they also put a napkin tablecloth on the tray table before putting the meal tray down. All very elegant).
By the time I got to Charles de Gaulle airport, I was starting to feel a bit the worse for wear, despite my hours of sleep on the plane. CDG is a big airport, and surprisingly, once i got my suitcase, there was no real customs or quarantine checkpoint to speak of. I just walked out. Then, after asking a couple of people for directions to the hotel shuttle pick up point, and walking from one end of the terminal to the other (and my poor knees were not happy), I finally found the bus I needed, and got to my hotel. The first thing I did was have a long shower, and boy, was that good. By this stage it was obloquy 4pm Paris time, and I had been in transit for about 27 hours since leaving Sydney at 10pm on the Sat night. I was starting to fade, but didn't want to crash until after dinner, and sometime closer to 'normal' bedtime in that timezone.
All up I coped ok with the travel, but was very grateful for the comfort of Business Class (and especially those bed-seats, which really helped me to get some sleep)
So, I've arrived in France... More later.
No comments:
Post a Comment