The Eagle Has Landed

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We set off on our journey at 5.30 on the train from Durham Station to Edinburgh. The journey was very quick as the train made no stops after Newcastle which meant we got there just after 7. We decided to go straight to the Castle for a photo opportunity but unfortunately for us they were setting up for the Tattoo so we were unable to get anywhere near it! Instead we had a coffee in Cafe Nero on the Golden Mile, the Edinburgh Fringe was in full swing so there were plenty of comings and goings to watch as we passed some time and had our coffee. From there we went and had some tea in the Floodlights bar followed by a trip to the Odeon to see Ted. Again filling more time in before we eventually took the airport bus from Princes Street. We got there at about 12.45 and had the best part of 4 hours to fill in before we could check in. We had a coffee and started the long wait. We had expected the airport to be quiet but a few other people were doing the same thing, one bloke Neil spoke to was waiting for his flight that wasn't until 1 the following afternoon! By the time we were able to check in it was quite a relief to get shot of our luggage before going to get some breakfast in departures. The flight from Edinburgh to Heathrow was on time and passed pretty quickly, getting us into Heathrow Terminal 1 for about 7.45. From here we made our way over to Terminal 4 to check in for the flight to Kuala Lumpur. Once we did this we had a wander around the shops before beginning to try and hunt down the Malaysian Airways brand new A380. We eventually found it parked at gate 6 and assumed, correctly, that that's where we would board. The plane was much bigger than I'd expected it to be and was very impressive sat on the runway with a number of different trucks and workmen attending to it. As we had wandered through the departures lounge we had seen a number of Olympic athletes from different countries milling round waiting for flights home. By the time we were ready to board we were joined by quite a few people wearing Team Malaysian Olympic kit, also bound for Kuala Lumpur.

Eventually it was time to board the flight and again the inside of the aircraft was as impressive as the outside with a 3, 4 3 seating arrangement on the lowerer deck. We were sat (almost!) at the back and were joined by a number of the Team Malaysia people. The flight was a little late in taking off but the feeling of speed was great as we took off. The flight was ok, quite comfortable but very long. Aircraft are not the best things to get off to sleep on and we both were tired after missing a night's sleep. We did have some turbulence at first and then quite a lot more as were flew over India (which seemed to take forever). In total the flight took just short of 12 hours during which time we covered 10800 km. We had a smooth landing and were soon off the aircraft and on the train that would take us to reclaim our luggage. The moment of truth, would we both be reunited with our luggage as we hadn't seen it since Edinburgh. Although it took quite a while, eventually it came round the carousel and were able to purchase train tickets to take us to KL Central. From here we had short metro ride and hot but relatively easy walk to our hostel. We passed a couple of hostels on the way and were quite pleased that we hadn't booked into them. The one we are staying is in great. All air-conditioned which was very welcome from the heat of the day outside. We left our luggage at the hostel as were were unable to check into our room until lunchtime and went for a wander around China Town. People were very busy, setting up stalls and cooking food to be sold later in the day. By the time we returned to the hostel to get into our room we were very hot and tired as we had had little sleep for two days and were in great need of a shower. A long, welcome shower later and we are ready to take on the heat of the day once again for another walk around China Town and hopefully find something to eat! We are both still pretty tired so I think it'll be an early night tonight!

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Comments

[Mick Carney]

Good Luck
A great start to the trip. Ah, the joys of long haul travel and that blast of seriously different climate is just the thing to let you know you are in for a wonderful experience.