My FIRST experience…

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 at 7:20 pm

HG and I planned to have one month holiday in February 2007. At first we just wanted to go to Thailand to visit my family and friends. HG had quite a lot of BA Miles which could get us a free flight to Bangkok. But using BA Miles to Bangkok seemed to be impossible due to the lack of availability. The closest destination available was Hong Kong. So we changed our plan a bit to go to Hong Kong and spend about 4-5 days there since HG has never been to Hong Kong before. When I said he had a lot of British Airways miles, I meant a lot which not only got us free tickets to Hong Kong but First Class tickets. At first I did not agree to waste all the BA Miles for just one trip First Class but HG said this might be the only FIRST experience in our life time. So I agreed.

We had booked all our flights a couple months in advance as well as the hotel in Hong Kong. We had BA from Edinburgh to London (Heathrow), BA from London to Hong Kong and TG from Hong Kong to Bangkok. For the flight back we used Emirates. About 3 weeks before our holiday, BA cabin crews announced strike action of 72 hours for 3 consecutive weeks and our flight plan was in those days. We were not happy with that but HG ensured me that he would not let this ruin our holiday. So we booked a contingency flight to Hong Kong with Emirates with a minimal cost cancellation. In the end, we managed to move our BA flight one day earlier than the original plan which meant we had to book the hotel for one more day. Before we changed the booking with the hotel we got an email from them saying the suite we had booked was damaged and they offered us an upgrade to their top suite with no extra charge. We were delighted to accept their offer. We also told them that we would be arriving one day earlier. Everything was set and just a couple days before we departed, BA cabin crew called off the strike.

The day before we went, dad came to our house to get Pepper. We needed two cars to transport the dog and his stuff. Dad’s car had the dog and me. HG’s car had all Pepper’s stuff, crate, basket, toy box, treats, foods, towels, etc. We had our lunch there and left immediately once dad took Pepper out for a walk after lunch. We had a lot of packing to do and did not want Pepper to see when we were leaving. Later that day, I called dad to see how Pepper was. Dad said Pepper was quite tired when he came back from the walk and tried to look for us but dad put him to his crate to sleep. After he woke up, he went to the window every time he heard a car.

On the day we departed, we arranged a taxi to come and take us to the airport. Everything was fine. At the security, I had to take my notebook out from the bag. The flight from Edinburgh to London was ok. At Heathrow, we went to wait at First lounge which is dedicated to only First class passengers and gold card members. We had a shower in the lounge which was a great way of refreshing. HG then started drinking champagne. We had to wait about 5-6 hours before our flight but it was a pleasant waiting experience. I noticed the people who cleaned up all the dishes in the lounge were Asian. They looked very much like Thai. I tried to see their badge but their names were not Thai. Then one of the cleaning ladies came to ask me if I came from Philippines. I said no and she apologised for asking. I had learnt from the school that Filipino and Thai people look very much alike.

On the First cabin, there were 14 seats and every seat was taken. HG and I had seats in the middle which was perfect for a sweet couple like us. I had noticed there were 4-5 cabin crew in this cabin serving us. After we settled into the seat, the guy who was in charge of the first cabin came to introduce himself to us and tried to remember our names. He tried so hard to pronounce my last name but he could not, so I told him to call me Aum instead. So he called me Mrs. Aum after that. Then the flight director came to introduce himself as well. The services on board were great; great seat, finest foods and drinks.

Oh well it is quite late now. I will continue talking about our trip more next time.