Our flight to HKG was at 2pm, so we checked out at 11.30am to catch the shuttle back to the airport. The driver dropped domestic travellers first, then went around to arrivals to see if there were any pickups and then headed to Terminal 5 for our drop off. By the time we reached the front door, it was 12pm – good thing, we left at 11.30.

We walked up to the First Class check in where the agent gave us a quizzical look and asked us where we were going. I indicated Hong Kong and handed over our passports – once she ran it through the system and saw were really in First, her face brightened up and she welcomed us.

Agent – “Travelling to Auckland?”
Me – “No, just Hong Kong as we are overnighting.”
Agent – “No problem, I will check the bags to Hong Kong only.”
I looked over at the Mrs and she looked at me with a quizzical look.

Me – “What’s wrong?”
Mrs – “Why are we going to Oakland?”
Me – “Not Oakland …. *in a low voice* … Auckland.”
*She grabs my arm with a vice grip*
Mrs – *in a low voice* … “NEW ZEALAND!”
Me – *in a low voice* … “Surprise!” 😀

The agent finishes checking us, hands our passports and boarding passes along with the lounge invitations. She asks if we would like to be escorted to the lounge. I asked if they could help us bypass security and she said no, they couldn’t. I declined the escort and she also indicated that security was light today and we would pass through in no time.

We made our way to the security line which took around 10 minutes – not too bad. Once through, we headed to the British Airways lounge. The lounge is pretty small but it was not full at all. We grabbed seats near the back of the lounge and I snapped away while Mrs. I went to see what food and drinks were available.

Air India bound for home:

Qatar and Lufthy just landed and taxi-ing to their respective gates:

20 minutes to departure, we left the lounge and headed to the gate. We walked right up to the agent who scanned us through but then lined up in the tube. The flight attendant greeted us at the door and requested us to turn left. We were in 1A and 2A respectively and Mrs.I could not believe her eyes when she saw her seat. 😀

While I was settling in my seat, my wife was still looking around not believing where she was – gotta love it when you see that look of utter amazement for the first time. The purser approached my wife and asked if she would like some champagne to drink and she quickly accepted. While she was being served, a male flight attendant came over and introduced himself and asked if I would like anything to drink and I requested champagne as well.

While I was waiting, I quickly snapped pics of the cabin and menu.

I’ve seen so many pictures of CX F and now its my turn to post my own! No matter how many pics I saw, it really felt like I was experiencing this for the first time and I was definitely soaking it in.

Mrs.I being a poser. 😛

At this point, the plane was fully boarded and ready for push back. We were pretty much on time and taxi-ed to the runway for take off.

ORD is United’s turf …

Lining up for take off!

Bye bye ORD! See you in 3 weeks.

At this point, the seat belt sign was turned off and Mrs.I went to the change into PJ’s. Shortly thereafter, I changed into mine. We were asked what we would like for lunch – I went with Chinese favs while Mrs.I went with the International option.

I asked the flight attendant to set us up to dine together and she was happy to oblige. While they set up at Mrs.I’s seat, she was sitting with me and she was telling me about how she could not get over the fact that she was in Cathay First class. She asked me how this flight was booked and I explained to her the finer details about Alaska Airmiles and points collecting. The conversation somehow steered into the topic of how the cabin crew knows who is a paying passenger and who is on points. Mrs.I rationalized that we paid for those points by using our credit cards and therefore we were legimiate paying passengers. To which I said technically we did not buy tickets but she would not have any of it and insisted we were paying passengers. Note to self – dont argue with your wife who also happens to be a lawyer – point, set, match. I also mentioned that this is a contentious topic amongst FT-ers. 😀

By this time, our table for 2 was set up and this is when Mrs.I saw the set up for the first time. Surprise! Needless to say, she was impressed at my ninja romance skills. I will let you fine people figure out which dishes we ate. Suffice to say that every single dish was excellent. Forgiveness please for the picture of Mrs.I’s braised veal cheek – we ate at different paces and I just remembered to catch a pic of the dish before she gobbled it up.

First time for the both of us having caviar and it was amazing. I could definitely get used to this. 🙂

OMG, the chicken curry was lip smackingly good. I growled when Mrs.I tried to taste. LOL. In retrospect, I should have ordered another chicken curry for my mid flight snack.

When we were done, we were given chocolates plus a hot towel

Requested the cabin crew to make up my bed so that I could sleep right away and adjust to the time in Hong Kong.

All warm and snuggly under the covers. This would come to bite me in the ….

Noooo, the time is going by so fast. 😦

Wonderful views as we flew by

Halfway through the flight, I decided to have a meal. I hit the call button and counted five seconds till the flight attendant appeared. I ordered the burger and noodles along with Johnny Walker Blue. The flight attendant really topped up the glass LOL.

Both were exceptionally good although I could have done without the onion confit on the burger. Too sweet for my liking.

Went back to bed and I was in and out due to the temperature in the cabin. As I am not used to sleeping in PJ’s, I had to constantly adjust the covers to either not boil and sweat or shiver from the AC. #firstworldproblems.

With an hour and a half left to go in the flight, I woke up for breakfast … or rather dinner as it was shown on the menu. Went with the chicken option for my main.

Healthy stuff.

Chicken was a bit tough but passable.

The pie was meh – cold hard crust which I ate around. Filling was decent.

Soon after I finished my meal, we prepared for landing. I headed to the washroom to freshen up and change into my regular clothes. Before the cabin crew took their seats, the purser came by to my wife and I respectively and thanked us for flying Cathay Pacific and asked us how everything was. I told her it was excellent and thanked her for looking after the both of us during the flight.

Could not get a proper pic due to the darkness. Was very cloudy and did not see the ground till we were very close to the runway.

Sleepy evening at HKG.

First off the plane and raced to immigration. We were through in about 10 minutes from gate to passing through immigration. The bags came out 5 minutes after waiting at the belt.

Thoughts on the flight – the flight was excellent because of the service provided by the cabin crew. When the purser saw me taking pictures, she asked if we would like a picture together. She was struggling to get a proper picture of us when the male flight attendant came behind her, gave her the “Please allow me, girlfriend” look and took command of the picture taking LOL. Now that was amazing and definitely made our flight memorable. The cabin crew were very attentive and engaging and this made the flight more enjoyable.

Next up – Novotel Citygate and a few hours in Hong Kong.