Packing for this epic journey......well, it was epic for me, posed some problems. Because we were going out just after Christmas and we knew that the family had put their Christmas on hold, we felt we had to take some seasonal presents.......clothes for 3 of us for 6 weeks AND Christmas presents.....not easy. I can't remember now how I resolved this problem (c'mon guys it is 23 years ago) but resolve it I did.
If someone told me that I was going to be flying off to Oz tomorrow morning........I think today I could be packed in under 2 hours.
At that time there was no such thing as Electronic visas and we had a few hairy moments when we thought they were not going to come back on time. They eventually did come back on the day we were flying out......talk about cutting it fine.....it all added to the excitement.
There were no flights out to Oz from Manchester in 1982, so we had no option but to fly down to London on the BA shuttle service.
I remember getting to Manchester and putting the cases through.
We went down to the departure area and Barbara Castle was there in a magnificent full length red fox fur coat......it was practically the same colour as her hair.
We boarded the flight and we no sooner seemed to have taken off than we were coming in to Heathrow.
The size of that place was overwhelming...even then.
We had to find out where we checked in.......we were in plenty of time, but still I worried about missing the flight.
I was too worried to go and have a drink or look at the 'Duty Free' shops....... though hubby and daughter went off to explore.
My eyes were anxiously glued to the departure board......and at that time there were announcements for flights....... but they were like the ones at railway stations...unintelligible.
Eventually it was time to board the plane.......I looked out of the window and saw this amazing 747 standing there. How in the name of heaven was this great lump of engineering going to get off the ground.
We had three seat together, with daughter at the window.......the plane taxied down the runway........waited for a few minutes and then the engines leapt into life and we accelerated at high speed down the runway..........I was hooked.
I have adored flying ever since then......and taking off and landing are my favourite bits.
The first stop was Frankfurt, then on to Abu Dhabi........it was something like an 8 hour flight. The in-flight entertainment at that time was pretty basic......but I didn't mind......I had taken books and I liked the music stations. We were fed and watered frequently........a rosy dawn was breaking when we landed at Abu Dhabi... We had to leave the plane while it was re-fuelled.
Even though it was only just dawn the warm air hit our faces as we walked across the tarmac to spend 2 hours in the terminal.
It gave us chance to stretch our legs and have a wash and brush up. Soon we were airborne again.......on our way to Bangkok.....the mysterious East.
More later......
If someone told me that I was going to be flying off to Oz tomorrow morning........I think today I could be packed in under 2 hours.
At that time there was no such thing as Electronic visas and we had a few hairy moments when we thought they were not going to come back on time. They eventually did come back on the day we were flying out......talk about cutting it fine.....it all added to the excitement.
There were no flights out to Oz from Manchester in 1982, so we had no option but to fly down to London on the BA shuttle service.
I remember getting to Manchester and putting the cases through.
We went down to the departure area and Barbara Castle was there in a magnificent full length red fox fur coat......it was practically the same colour as her hair.
We boarded the flight and we no sooner seemed to have taken off than we were coming in to Heathrow.
The size of that place was overwhelming...even then.
We had to find out where we checked in.......we were in plenty of time, but still I worried about missing the flight.
I was too worried to go and have a drink or look at the 'Duty Free' shops....... though hubby and daughter went off to explore.
My eyes were anxiously glued to the departure board......and at that time there were announcements for flights....... but they were like the ones at railway stations...unintelligible.
Eventually it was time to board the plane.......I looked out of the window and saw this amazing 747 standing there. How in the name of heaven was this great lump of engineering going to get off the ground.
We had three seat together, with daughter at the window.......the plane taxied down the runway........waited for a few minutes and then the engines leapt into life and we accelerated at high speed down the runway..........I was hooked.
I have adored flying ever since then......and taking off and landing are my favourite bits.
The first stop was Frankfurt, then on to Abu Dhabi........it was something like an 8 hour flight. The in-flight entertainment at that time was pretty basic......but I didn't mind......I had taken books and I liked the music stations. We were fed and watered frequently........a rosy dawn was breaking when we landed at Abu Dhabi... We had to leave the plane while it was re-fuelled.
Even though it was only just dawn the warm air hit our faces as we walked across the tarmac to spend 2 hours in the terminal.
It gave us chance to stretch our legs and have a wash and brush up. Soon we were airborne again.......on our way to Bangkok.....the mysterious East.
More later......