London in 2004

I find my memory’s quite hazy about the trip, once you’re on the way to somewhere you enter into this no-man’s-zone of no time, space, or place. Everything you see, do, smell and touch all starts to meld into one event. Usually we arrive in Singapore in the middle of the night, because we’ve left Australia late at night or so. That means that your night and day have been scrambled, and you go into a strangely alert state, where you could sleep one minute, eat a big meal the next minute, wake up and have breakfast and neither your body nor your head can remember if its morning or afternoon. I can’t remember the flight from Canberra to Sydney at all. That would suggest that it can’t have been too objectionable. Usually if something’s upset me I‘d remember that.

The only bit I do remember is walking along aimlessly at Bangkok airport starting blankly into the faces of the other passengers and I was wearing my new Calvin Kline trousers – I’m sure you’ve seen them areound. They’re the ones that everyone seems to wear these days – they’re cotton and usually that beige/stone/ecru colour. They are really really comfortable. I bought them especially to wear on this trip. I remember being very surprised when I did bring them home that I’d already bought something almost identical from another brand. I had no memory at all at that point of buying the other ones. I’m sure its Alzheimer’s or maybe I’m just losing my mind – hang on isn’t that the same thing? They have both served me very well. In Bangkok, at the half way point on the way there as I was walking along the terminal dragging my on-board roll-on behind me with my head feeling very blank and I remember thinking how comfortable they were. I still felt quite comfy by the time we got to Heathrow. Even so, I looked like something the cat had dragged in. I do not know how people like Elle McPherson always manage to look totally fresh after a long flight.

Heathrow is where Tim and I were splitting up for a week or so. He was going on to Geneva and then Aigle for his course, while I was staying in London.
A really nice part of our trip this time as the opportunity to get into the first class lounge in Sydney. If you’re not familiar with airline lounges – this is another layer of exclusivity or class distinctions (however you perceive it) in that you (or your company if you travel for work) buy into a lounge membership and they let you into the regular one, but if you’re a very frequent flier or if you buy into a higher level of membership, then you’re allowed into another even more exclusive lounge. This was my first ever experience of the first class lounge, so I didn’t know what to expect. As it turned out, it was just like the regular lounge in many ways. In the lounge in Sydney, the waiter/steward was walking around asking people if they wanted a top up of Moet & Chandon champagne – in the regular lounge you have to get up and find your own can of Diet Coke or whatever. Actually the regular lounge isn’t too bad, but in recent years (since that dreaded incident that’s ruined everything in the world) they’ve stopped using regular cutlery and only trust us with plastic knives and forks etc. The coffee’s still good, and the seats are more comfortable than in the public areas and there are magazines and food and so on, so its much better than being out with the regular hordes, or having to eat in McDonalds or some similar place.

written by  pavlan on October 20, 2006 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: travels of the mind to Boksic Lug
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