We've just got back from an amazing trip to Hong Kong. My husband had a four day layover there, so we took advantage and went with him. His roster is crazy at the moment (11 days away with only 2 visits home in that time, each for less than 24 hours.) This way, then, we actually got to spend some precious family time together.
I must admit I was nervous. Our son is now 21 months and tremendously active. Flying with him is a challenge to say the least. Hong Kong is 7 hours' flight from here (and unbeknown to me, 9.5 hours back because of the winds) so it's no short hop. And it didn't begin well; our outbound flight was delayed for three hours, so we'd been in the airport for 5 hours by the time we took off. And when we arrived in Hong Kong, exhausted, we were greeted by the longest immigration queue I've ever seen (and I've been to JFK!) It snaked out of the usual barriers and down the corridor, looping a couple of times. Luckily it moved fairly quickly, and we were out of it in about 45 minutes. Then, things started to look up. We had a limo pick up at the airport and were at the hotel, a lovely brand new 5*, in minutes. Our room was on the Executive floor, and had a super comfy bed for me, a super comfy cot for my son and a dragon toy to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which made me smile and which the fella loved.
Later that night, my husband arrived. He was flying freight to Hong Kong, so we'd taken separate flights. In the back of my mind I'd been worrying his roster might change at the last minute and he wouldn't actually turn up, so when he did, I was overjoyed. From then on in, we had a magic time. We went into Kowloon to shop and see the sound and light show, went up to the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping, and took the tram up to the Peak. I loved the city. I could easily live there - if Cathay wasn't such a bum job nowadays.
When we left to go home in the early hours of Tuesday, I must admit I shed a tear. It had been just a perfect break for the three of us - unexpectedly, one of the best family holidays we've ever had. I'm so glad we made the effort to go. It would have been tremendously easy to decide the effort wasn't worth it, but we'd have been wrong. I'm determined now that we'll be more adventurous in future and do this again. Why not - that's what staff travel's for!
I must admit I was nervous. Our son is now 21 months and tremendously active. Flying with him is a challenge to say the least. Hong Kong is 7 hours' flight from here (and unbeknown to me, 9.5 hours back because of the winds) so it's no short hop. And it didn't begin well; our outbound flight was delayed for three hours, so we'd been in the airport for 5 hours by the time we took off. And when we arrived in Hong Kong, exhausted, we were greeted by the longest immigration queue I've ever seen (and I've been to JFK!) It snaked out of the usual barriers and down the corridor, looping a couple of times. Luckily it moved fairly quickly, and we were out of it in about 45 minutes. Then, things started to look up. We had a limo pick up at the airport and were at the hotel, a lovely brand new 5*, in minutes. Our room was on the Executive floor, and had a super comfy bed for me, a super comfy cot for my son and a dragon toy to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which made me smile and which the fella loved.
Later that night, my husband arrived. He was flying freight to Hong Kong, so we'd taken separate flights. In the back of my mind I'd been worrying his roster might change at the last minute and he wouldn't actually turn up, so when he did, I was overjoyed. From then on in, we had a magic time. We went into Kowloon to shop and see the sound and light show, went up to the Big Buddha at Ngong Ping, and took the tram up to the Peak. I loved the city. I could easily live there - if Cathay wasn't such a bum job nowadays.
When we left to go home in the early hours of Tuesday, I must admit I shed a tear. It had been just a perfect break for the three of us - unexpectedly, one of the best family holidays we've ever had. I'm so glad we made the effort to go. It would have been tremendously easy to decide the effort wasn't worth it, but we'd have been wrong. I'm determined now that we'll be more adventurous in future and do this again. Why not - that's what staff travel's for!
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So glad that you got to spend time together, even if it was tough to make it happen! :)
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