Seasonal Almanac
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April 11th, 2009
When I was a child, we lived in the part of Kowloon Tong that was right under the flight path . Adults would tell us to cover our ears when a plane flew overhead (we had to cover our ears every 10 minutes). The central locality of the Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport, though, meant that getting there was a breeze. It was so easy to get to that one person departing overseas would often be farewelled by about 20 family members and friends.
Now living down Wollongong way means that getting to the Sydney Airport requires carefully pre-planned strategies. Normally, catching the train is manageable but returning in late evenings often presents certain limitations. So today we drove up to Petersham and left the car outside Lucas’s and Lizzie’s. We then caught a taxi to the airport. All went according to plan.
Budget airlines present many other opportunities for pre-planning: from buying tickets online, web check-in, to booking your own seats. Not checking in baggage means you can go straight through to security about half an hour before the flight takes off. When there is no delay and you have a good book (or managed to find a good magazine), there isn’t too much to grumble about. The only other thing you could hope for is that the flight isn’t too full.
As the plane leveled in flight, the crew wheeled their food kiosk about providing around-the-clock food sales. We proudly pulled out our own picnic we brought on board: pistachio nuts, tuna rolls, a baklava, a fig biscuit, a pear and a hot-cross bun. We ate for most of the entire 5 hours plane trip to Perth and felt rather pleased with ourselves. With a small thermost (and more leg room), I could see that we might nearly approximate our Shinkansen experience.
April 27th, 2009 at 9:45 am
hehe. this cracked me up, Jo. The ongoing adventures of Jo and Red involve finding ever more exotic places to have a nice snack.
Unfortunately Lizzie and I were not as organised as you for our recent flights. I ate a very ordinary egg sandwich. As usual vegetarians not well catered for (pity the vegan).
I can imagine the other passengers looking on in envy at your picnic (and I can even imagine you having proper cloth napkins and mini chequered tablecloths and maybe your own salt and pepper shakers too…
April 27th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
I do, in fact, have a set of miniature salt and pepper shakers, although I didn’t think to take them on the plane (may be I will next time).
Many a times when we go on a trip and I couldn’t (be bothered to) get a pack lunch together, once we arrive and find that the food option is severely limited – I always regret not making the effort.
In a city, the trick of course is to have a list of places appropriate for snacking. When we visited the National Art Centre in Roppongi (Tokyo), we noticed that people brought their own lunches and thermosts to the foyer rather than eating at the cafes. The center has these designer-chairs that look out through a floor-to-ceiling glass wall. It was great for rainy days.