122) The Start of our Journey
Jonny and I flew out of Durban on December 7th 1998. A South African Airways plane took us to Johannesburg to catch our Air Malaya flight to Kuala Lumper where we had a three-hour stop over until we could fly out to Sydney. The problems started in Johannesburg. When we were seated in the plane and not going anywhere the flight attendant explained that they were waiting for two passengers who had booked in their luggage but had not boarded. I think they waited about half an hour before they unloaded the missing men’s luggage while we sat and waited. Everyone was a bit upset at the delay but as we knew it was a safety issue we just had to accept it with as much good grace as possible.
About an hour and a half late the pilot started the engines and we thought that it was great to be on or way at long last. We moved a little way towards the runway and stopped again. Then there was more waiting and eventually the plane turned and went back to the terminal again. The flight attendant was once again called on to explain why we weren’t going anywhere. There was a mechanical fault and the engineers would have to inspect the plane. We were told that we should all go to the airport restaurant and have a meal while the inspection was being done. We all grumbled a bit and went off to get our meal. The restaurant had a problem, what would you do if a Jumbo Jet full of people that you were not expecting suddenly dropped in for a meal. They did their best and we all managed to get something to eat but we did not all get what we ordered and some people complained bitterly. While we were eating an announcement was made to tell us that the problem had been identified and it would need a spare part that was not locally available and so the airline was trying to source the nearest one. If it could not be found soon we would have to defer our journey until the next day and would be put up in a local hotel. Just about everyone had a reason why they needed to get going quickly and we sat around swapping tales of woe. Eventually an airline employee came to tell us that they had located a spare part in Harare and it was at that moment being flown to us and so we would fly out that night and not have to go to a local hotel. For this announcement he received a cheer of approval and the mood lifted. We would be very late taking off, but we would be going.
We had been due to take off at about 5pm but it was almost 11pm before we eventually boarded our plane and took off without any more problems. We knew that we had had a three-hour stopover in Kuala Lumper and were concerned that as we were so late we might not get our connecting flight. We were sure that it was the responsibility of the airline to get us to our destination but we wondered what would happen at the other end. We got talking to a business man from Korea who assured us that he used this flight often and that the plane we were on had come from South America and it would be the plane that we would take us to Australia so there was no problem and that we could leave our hand luggage on the plane if we liked as it would still be there when we got back. He obviously was such a seasoned traveller we were inclined to believe him. He had slept like a log right through the night whereas we had not been able to get much sleep. I asked him in the morning if he slept so well because he flew so often but he explained that he had just taken a sleeping pill. I don’t know why I thought that this was such a clever idea but I did. Even though we believed what he said we decided to take our hand luggage with us, luckily.
The flight was without incident, (the replaced part functioned well and there was no more trouble). When we arrived at Kuala Lumper in the morning of the next day we were amazed at the size and beauty of the airport. The Commonwealth Games had been held there the previous year and the new airport had been built for the occasion. It had been built to accommodate the large crowds of athletes and tourists who attended the games, so when there were only one or two plane loads of people using it it was vastly under utilised. Jonny and I were very impressed with the facilities and size of the place. Everything that could be done to make ones stopover enjoyable had been done. There were many lovely shops with very exotic merchandise. There were playrooms and lounges, computer games rooms, prayer rooms and rest rooms. Everything was beautiful and very clean. There were and elevators, escalators and travelators all ready to whisk the weary traveller further along on his journey. We were very impressed and took a great number of photos. When we got the film developed not one of them came out. We put it down to the x-ray machines that scanned our luggage and were more careful about where we put our camera on our return journey but none of those came out either. We were very puzzled by that.
About an hour and a half late the pilot started the engines and we thought that it was great to be on or way at long last. We moved a little way towards the runway and stopped again. Then there was more waiting and eventually the plane turned and went back to the terminal again. The flight attendant was once again called on to explain why we weren’t going anywhere. There was a mechanical fault and the engineers would have to inspect the plane. We were told that we should all go to the airport restaurant and have a meal while the inspection was being done. We all grumbled a bit and went off to get our meal. The restaurant had a problem, what would you do if a Jumbo Jet full of people that you were not expecting suddenly dropped in for a meal. They did their best and we all managed to get something to eat but we did not all get what we ordered and some people complained bitterly. While we were eating an announcement was made to tell us that the problem had been identified and it would need a spare part that was not locally available and so the airline was trying to source the nearest one. If it could not be found soon we would have to defer our journey until the next day and would be put up in a local hotel. Just about everyone had a reason why they needed to get going quickly and we sat around swapping tales of woe. Eventually an airline employee came to tell us that they had located a spare part in Harare and it was at that moment being flown to us and so we would fly out that night and not have to go to a local hotel. For this announcement he received a cheer of approval and the mood lifted. We would be very late taking off, but we would be going.
We had been due to take off at about 5pm but it was almost 11pm before we eventually boarded our plane and took off without any more problems. We knew that we had had a three-hour stopover in Kuala Lumper and were concerned that as we were so late we might not get our connecting flight. We were sure that it was the responsibility of the airline to get us to our destination but we wondered what would happen at the other end. We got talking to a business man from Korea who assured us that he used this flight often and that the plane we were on had come from South America and it would be the plane that we would take us to Australia so there was no problem and that we could leave our hand luggage on the plane if we liked as it would still be there when we got back. He obviously was such a seasoned traveller we were inclined to believe him. He had slept like a log right through the night whereas we had not been able to get much sleep. I asked him in the morning if he slept so well because he flew so often but he explained that he had just taken a sleeping pill. I don’t know why I thought that this was such a clever idea but I did. Even though we believed what he said we decided to take our hand luggage with us, luckily.
The flight was without incident, (the replaced part functioned well and there was no more trouble). When we arrived at Kuala Lumper in the morning of the next day we were amazed at the size and beauty of the airport. The Commonwealth Games had been held there the previous year and the new airport had been built for the occasion. It had been built to accommodate the large crowds of athletes and tourists who attended the games, so when there were only one or two plane loads of people using it it was vastly under utilised. Jonny and I were very impressed with the facilities and size of the place. Everything that could be done to make ones stopover enjoyable had been done. There were many lovely shops with very exotic merchandise. There were playrooms and lounges, computer games rooms, prayer rooms and rest rooms. Everything was beautiful and very clean. There were and elevators, escalators and travelators all ready to whisk the weary traveller further along on his journey. We were very impressed and took a great number of photos. When we got the film developed not one of them came out. We put it down to the x-ray machines that scanned our luggage and were more careful about where we put our camera on our return journey but none of those came out either. We were very puzzled by that.
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