[LONDON LIGHTS 1984] DAY 1

July 31, 1984
MNL - HKG - ABU DHABI - LON

So. We have ourselves a brand new airport building, and one thing is fairly evident: the lack of provision for the hordes of relatives that gather to send off or welcome their particular passenger. It is also HOT inside the new airport -- much more so than outside! Of all the times for the airconditioning system to die, it had to be today, right NOW, when the building has been baking under the sun for the better part of the day. Augh!

Thankfully, we didn't have any problems at the check-in counter, nor the immigration/customs counter.   There's always that little uneasy moment when your breath hitches, even if you know perfectly well that you have nothing to feel guilty about!  Made sure we had our boarding passes, and luggage checks; paid our terminal fees and were allowed to enter the duty-free area.

Took a look at the overhead menu at one of the snack bars.  Hamburger and Root Beer at PHP18 *each*!  Gracious, what is the exchange rate coming to...

BA 020 boarding starts at 1745H - the aircons appear to be working in the transit lounge, for which everyone present seems truly grateful.  The heat outside is withering.

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We arrive at Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport at 1945H, after leaving Manila at 1800H.  It's always an wondrous thing to arrive at Kai Tak -- the plane appears to descend right into a mountain range, straight through a narrow corridor with mountains on either side.  The view outside the window makes it look like one gust of wind could make the plane brush its wingtips against a solid wall of green.  Then just when you can't stand any more suspense, the plane bursts out of the mountains.

Then you realize that the runway the plane is heading towards, is a wide strip of concrete with deep ocean on three sides.  Yikes!  There's a momentary chill that runs down your back at the thought of the plane shooting off the concrete into the water; and suddenly you've touched down, the plane is slowing, and...you've arrived!

We have ourselves a layover until 2100H, when the flight leaves.  Boarding time is at 2030H, which means the time we should present ourselves at the gate.  Subtract 15 minutes to travel from the duty-free area, so we ought to be at the transit area by 2015H.  Effectively, that means we can hang out at the duty-free for about 10 minutes, since we got off the plane at around 2000H.

Changed some Philippine pesos into US Dollars, and then went window-shopping at the duty-free area.  Not much else *to* do, since we were heading for Europe; no sense in bringing along baggage to lug around for the next several days, right?  More than enough souvenirs to be found along the way.

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The Hong Kong-Abu Dhabi leg was approximately six hours and 50 minutes of flying.  I don't remember too much about it, since we were served dinner and the cabin was then blacked out for those who wanted to sleep through the flight.  I got a brief glimpse of the inflight movie titled Harry and Son starring Paul Newman as Harry and Robby Benson as Howard, before nodding off to sleep.

Landing at Abu Dhabi, my legs were rubbery and I felt as though I'd left my brain at home.  But I wasn't so far gone as to appreciate the transit lounge where we were allowed to stretch our legs while the plane refuelled for the next leg.  It was a circular area, with an open balcony that let you look down at the rest of the airport.  I have a blurry memory of the fantastic gold jewelry that was on display, and not much else, before we were bundled back into the plane.

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The Abu Dhabi-London segment was plagued with clear air turbulence halfway through.  CAT is one of the things that make flying a misery for me; especially on long-haul flights like this one.  I will forever cherish the memory of the Captain telling people to remove the spoons from their coffee cups at the end of his usual "We regret to inform you..." spiel.

The British Airways steward was a sweetheart.  Yes, I'm perfectly aware it was part of his job, but for someone who'd been on his feet for quite a bit, and in a shaking plane, to boot -- taking the time out to tuck in my lap blanket and offering to get me some water was a lovely thing to do.

London appears to be having a heatwave.  @__@  That's a new one.  But we'll see -- their heatwave might be our December weather, seeing as they live in colder regions and their average summer temperature is different from ours.

Our inflight movie was called Romancing the Stone and starred Michael Douglas (Jack) and Kathleen Turner (Joan).  It's a combination of Raiders of the Lost Ark and High Road to China.

The movie contained adventure, romance, and comedy.  Real life decided to add some suspense when the film managed to snarl inside the projector during the final climactic scene, and with nearly an hour before the final descent!  For a moment, it seemed as though the economy section was doomed to land before finding out of Jack would escape the clutches of the alligator and get the girl!  The crew managed to fix things with time to spare, and there was much cheering when the ending proved to really be a happy one.