Time to go home

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We had to wake up early again this morning as we had arranged a mini bus to collect us at about 6.20am to take us to the airport. I was a bit stressed about the timing as this is about the time that the monks come past the hotel. I didn’t want to be mucking about loading our stuff into the mini bus right when the monks started filing past! Fortunately the mini bus arrived right on time and we were all loaded and on our way before any orange robes appeared!!

As we drove down the main street though, we could not believe how many tourists were sitting on the footpath with a container of rice in front of them, ready and waiting to participate in the alms giving. Personally, I find it unfathomable why anyone who is not a Buddhist feels the need to participate. It is a deeply spiritual devotional ceremony NOT a tourist activity.

Observe it quietly, photograph it with sensitivity, but leave the actual alms giving to the Buddhists who understand what they are doing, why they are doing it AND, perhaps most importantly, how to do it properly and respectfully without offending the monks. I’m not a Catholic and I wouldn’t dream of going into a Catholic church and taking communion, why would I participate in a Buddhist religious ceremony???

We checked in at the airport without any trouble and by 8.00am we were on our way to Bangkok. When we arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok we had to collect our bags. Unfortunately we could not check our bags all the way through. With our bags in tow, we set off looking for the transit hotel. Well, we looked and we looked, but we couldn’t find the transit hotel that you are supposed to be able to book into for up to four hours while you are hanging around waiting for your connecting flight!!?

In the end we just parked ourselves in some lovely plastic seats in the departure hall. We had such a long wait for our flight to Sydney that it wasn’t even listed on the departures board when we arrived in the departure hall. I think the flights were listed until about mid-afternoon, but our 5.25pm flight was nowhere to be seen, let alone available for check-in!!!

After three bum-numbing hours on our plastic seats we headed to the check-in counter as soon as it opened at 1.30pm!! With our luggage checked in we were able to proceed through immigration and then to the Qantas Lounge. The Qantas Lounge only opens at 1.00pm, presumably because there are no Qantas flights passing through Suvarnabhumi during the morning??? The other logistical issues are: the lounge is located beyond immigration, you can’t proceed to immigration until you have checked-in for the flight, you can’t check-in for your flight until check-in opens ... and check-in doesn’t open until around four hours before the flight is scheduled to depart!!! So, if you have eight hours between flights - you’re rooted!!

And guess what? We finally found the transit hotel - it is also located beyond immigration so it’s not available as an alternative to the Qantas Lounge while you wait for the lounge to open - its availability is subject to the same limitations as the Qantas lounge. You cannot access anywhere to wait in comfort until you have checked in for your flight at which stage you only have about three hours left to wait anyway!!!

So, for our last three hours overseas, we enjoyed some food and drink - in some comfortable seats - in the Qantas Lounge. The lounge was very nice, especially after three hours in the departure hall. I think the deal is that everything, the flights, the lounges and transit hotel, is set up to cater for the travellers on the long-haul flights from Europe. If you are connecting at Bangkok from some remote Asian location well, you just have to lump it!!

We arrived in Sydney on time after another entirely uneventful flight All our flights on this trip have been on time or ahead of schedule and very smooth! We arrived at the international terminal where we had to clear immigration, collect our bags, clear customs and then check-in for the domestic leg of trip. We were a bit too early to be filmed for ‘Border Security’ which was going to be filming today. They were still setting up as we went through!!!

Clearing all of these checkpoints took so much time that we only just made it to check-in for the domestic leg of our flight. I honestly don’t know why Qantas didn’t book us on the next flight from Sydney to Melbourne, because I always thought that 1 ½ hours was going to be cutting it fine!!! By the time that we were bussed across to the domestic terminal from the international terminal we were pretty much joining the end of the queue to be the last passengers on the plane!!!

Despite warnings about more bad weather being expected in Melbourne today, we arrived in Melbourne without our flight being buffeted by storms! We made our way to the baggage carousel only to hear our names called out over the PA just as the bags started circulating. Passengers blah, blah, Gaffney, blah, blah and blah travelling on flight QF415 from Sydney were being asked to report to the Qantas baggage services desk. Turns out that we just made the flight in Sydney, but our bags didn’t!!!

So, with just our small carry-on bags we confirmed that Robin was waiting for us at the McDonalds and walked over to meet him. That seemed much easier than having him drive around the arrivals ramp to collect us.

Once we were home we jumped in our car and headed straight to the kennels to collect the terrible twosome who were very happy to see us, but quite clearly not at all traumatised by their stay at the kennels.

And the best thing about being home in Melbourne, the world’s third most liveable city?? Being able to breathe fresh air and drink the tap water!!!


THE END




PS. With both of our tummies still a bit on the unsettled side we have both been to the doctor since we arrived home to arrange to have our stools reviewed so that we can undertake a bit more treatment to eliminate any persistent bugs lurking in our systems??!

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Comments

[sandra]

you guys get to have all the fun!!!