I Don't Like Flying, Australia Bring Us Your Best

4/2/2013

Arriving at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport.

My cell phone rang. It was Wesley, our friend who was outside waiting to take us to the airport. When it comes to air travel, I am stickler for getting out on time. I hate feeling flustered and rushed, especially when it comes to a long haul flight. And Australia was definitely that.

This was an indirect flight to Perth with a stopover in Singapore. Just over 14 hours total travelling time. Doing a last sweep through our apartment and giving our cat Winnie a quick hug good bye, we were soon heading down the highway towards Pudong International Airport – one of two huge airports in Shanghai.

Inside Terminal 2, we savoured the last of the Chinese New Year celebrations we would see with the check-in counters all decorated in festive red lanterns.

My impeccably planned morning meant that we had arrived 20 minutes before the Singapore Airlines check-in desks were opened. We were the first in line. It was my maiden voyage with this Southeast Asian airline of which I had read many good reviews about. Once opened, the counter staff were efficient and within minutes we had our boarding passes to hand.

First in line at the Singapore Airline's check in.

Eating Japanese ramen noodles before flying.

This is me being transparent now. I don’t like flying. I can’t really pin point it to one specific incident, but the thought of being up in the air is enough to quadruple my heart rate in seconds. It’s an uncomfortable feeling but one that I have learnt to harness in over the years. I usually prefer to eat before a flight so at least I know I have my belly semi-full. Our favourite Japanese fast food noodle chain, Ajisen Ramen, had an outlet at the terminal so we went for that.

Oh, and I forgot to add that a couple of days before I had been recovering from a dodgy stomach. I had just about recovered in time for the journey, or so I thought. At gate B10 stood our Boeing 777-300 aircraft. The call for passengers to board came over the tannoy system. Despite my lack of eagerness towards air travel, sitting by a window is must. The cabin inside was spacious with good legroom provided in economy. Each seat had its entertainment screen – something which a lot of Chinese airlines lack.

The head of cabin crew recited the first few lines of a scripted welcome speech. I usually home in on the weather segment which this time round, I wished I hadn’t. “….and weather on route, we will be experiencing high level turbulence, I mean high level clouds, so there may be some turbulence….” I gave Lezil a defeated look. My hands were clamming with sweat and I was chewing those mint candies like a lifelong pill-popping addict. Why today?

Our Boeing 777-300 aircraft.

I have a friend, Gary, who is a pilot for China Eastern airlines. As someone with many years of service he gets placed on most of his company’s long-haul routes. I find our conversations fascinating. Being a pilot to me has to be one of the most mind-testing, responsibility-carrying jobs around. He was telling me that in the last 10 years, the skies over China have seen an alarming increase in clouds. He attributes it to the pollution levels. He stated that it’s practically near impossible now to be able to fly above the cloud level when in Chinese airspace.

“Cabin crew, take off stations please…” announced the pilot. The sound of two Rolls Royce engines roared and we powered our way down the runway, nose titled up, and then we were airborne. Quickly climbing up to 10,000 feet Shanghai below, although a partly cloudy day, was under a clearly visible dome of smog. You could even see the definite edges where the intense city smog ended. Quite an eye-opener.

Despite the opening hiccup weather announcement from the cabin crew head, the flight was pretty smooth sailing. To me, the untrained eye, it seemed like the pilot had nestled the plane just in between two layers of cloud, enough to keep any big jerking movements at bay. Using a few TV episodes and movies to keep me distracted, I checked in regularly on the flight path map to keep a watch of our whereabouts. Going passed Hong Kong and finally we veered away from China mainland, over the South China Sea. The aircraft then climbed from its previous 34,000 up to 36,000. And the skies opened up. No more haziness or clouds. Just an early evening sky with emerging twinkling stars. The pilot had skills.

Touching down at Singapore’s Changi Airport, we stripped off our winter clothing layers from Shanghai. We had a three hour wait for our connecting flight. By this time, I started feeling rough. My stomach was not in the best shape and two trips to the toilet proved it. Great. Nibbling on a few crackers, I curled up on a couch in one of a number of comfortable waiting areas. Despite it being past midnight, the place was buzzing with shoppers, restaurants and entertainment zones.

Not feeling well at Singapore Changi Airport.

1am and back on board for round 2 to Perth.

Back on board, and I was already willing the seconds, minutes and hours to go by as we took off at 1am. Travel when you don’t feel well is the worst. Flying over Indonesia and then over the vast Indian Ocean, I struggled to sleep. My frequent bathroom visits ensured no shut-eye for me. Five hours later and the long-awaited announcement that we would be making our decent into Perth came. It was dawning and the ocean below was beginning to display its brilliant shades of blue.

Rapidly descending from our 39,000ft altitude and we got our first glimpse of land – it was Rottnest Island which is located about 18 kilometres from Australia itself. Then the motherland came into view. So flat and basking in glorious sunshine. It was as if the Australian Tourist Board couldn’t have staged a better welcome for a couple of first time visitors like Lezil and I.

Flying into Perth, I was surprised how small it seemed. More like a town, than a city. There were no high-rise buildings to be seen except for the tiny few clustered in Perth’s central business district.

Rottnest Island - 18kms off the coast of Australia.

Our first glimpse of huge Australia.

A smooth touchdown and we taxied our way to the gate. I breathed a sigh of relief. Flying over with for four weeks. It was 6:15am and already the outside temperature was 23C. Nice!

Australian immigration and customs was something else. It took considerable amount of time to clear. Everything was checked and things not allowed in, were immediately disposed of. Lezil’s family – her father, mother, brother and his girlfriend – were all grinning from ear-to-ear as we came through arrivals. Everyone embraced each other, hardly believing that we had finally arrived after much planning over the last six months.

It was time to adjust to a totally different environment. Less people, no smog (I can now breath without feeling I have a filter blocking my windpipe) and everything around us is in English. Australia, we’re ready! Bring us your best, your bold and your beautiful!