Colombia.......Here I come.....(Part 4)
I was wondering to myself, "what am I going to do for the next 14 hrs of flight time?". As the stewardess got busy helping passengers stowing their hand luggage's onto the overhead compartment, I got myself busy going thru' the laminated safety procedures leaflets after fastening my seatbelt. I also love reading their in-flight magazine "Travel 360" (3sixty), especially articles by Capt Lim. Overheard on the PA, the Captain's giving the order to the cabin crew to close and secure all doors. In flight safety briefing follows quickly afterwards, as the plane slowly began taxiing on the tarmac, proceeding to the take-off position at the far end of the runaway. Air traffic is not too busy this time of the day. Most long haul flights arrive and departs early evening or very late at night.
As usual for me, every time taking any form of transport, I would "say my prayers & thanking the All Mighty for the convenience & to God I will return". As the plane took up position at the beginning of the runaway 32R, the engines started revving up and roaring to go.....soon we were accelerating on the runaway at tremendous speed, and within seconds we were off the ground, climbing into the sky at quite a steep angle before we level off. I have always been fascinated by aeroplanes. I should have been a pilot instead of a seafarer ! ha ha...Well, that's what you called "fate". This 32R (320 degrees Right) runaway is normally the take-off direction for departing flight. The pilot didn't have to make so much adjustment to his direction as we started to head for London in the North Westerly direction. From the flight routing on the screen in front of us, it's showing direction of 308 degrees at speed of 500+ knots. Our altitude is about 30,000+ ft and still climbing, and have approx. distance of 10,500 miles to go. Being a navigator myself, I love reviewing our flight routing and checking the distance to go from time to time. Thanks God for the Great February weather outside, high above the clouds. The Straits of Malacca is below us, I could hardly see anything apart from vast blue seas and the western coastline of peninsular Malaysia. "Selamat tinggal Malaysia" (Goodbye Malaysia).
About 15 minutes into the flight, the seat belt sign was switched off. You see people standing up and queueing up for the lavatory. I don't understand this.........don't these people "prepare themselves" or does the "thingy" prior departing from the terminal...."probably they were too busy shopping & chatting". I have read newspaper reports where two of the lavatories onboard an airline (I wont mentioned here) were choked and unserviceable. The airplane has to turn back to it's initial airport to fix the toilet. Such is the importance of public convenience on the airplane that cannot be taken for granted ! You sometime find passengers throwing hand towels and ladies pad into the bowl....awful but let's face it....some people just couldn't care less what the instruction and notices on the wall says and further more (from their perspective) nobody knows who did it. Airlines cannot install CCTV inside loo....privacy law. Enough of toilet talk.....ha ha...got carried away !
My next door neighbour on the flight is a very nice Russian guy who took this flight because of the extremely cheap fare. According to him, he bought the ticket KUL-STN (one way) for RM499 (Pound Sterling 100). Wow....dirt cheap ! He seats on 3H. The middle seat is empty. Thus a good space between us, especially during mealtime. This guy is married to a Thai national. They lived in Chiang Rai about 800 km to the North of Bangkok. According to him it's peaceful and quiet up there.... away from the hussle and bustle of downtown Bangkok. We soon talk about politics, religion, travels, and exchange details of our facebook and instagram accounts. He also introduce and recommend me to RT news (rt.com) where you can get some fair and balance news. I know that CNN and Fox news are inclined towards certain agendas but had not tried RT (Russia Today) before. Later, we excused ourselves for the badly needed rest until meal is served.
To be continued............................
As usual for me, every time taking any form of transport, I would "say my prayers & thanking the All Mighty for the convenience & to God I will return". As the plane took up position at the beginning of the runaway 32R, the engines started revving up and roaring to go.....soon we were accelerating on the runaway at tremendous speed, and within seconds we were off the ground, climbing into the sky at quite a steep angle before we level off. I have always been fascinated by aeroplanes. I should have been a pilot instead of a seafarer ! ha ha...Well, that's what you called "fate". This 32R (320 degrees Right) runaway is normally the take-off direction for departing flight. The pilot didn't have to make so much adjustment to his direction as we started to head for London in the North Westerly direction. From the flight routing on the screen in front of us, it's showing direction of 308 degrees at speed of 500+ knots. Our altitude is about 30,000+ ft and still climbing, and have approx. distance of 10,500 miles to go. Being a navigator myself, I love reviewing our flight routing and checking the distance to go from time to time. Thanks God for the Great February weather outside, high above the clouds. The Straits of Malacca is below us, I could hardly see anything apart from vast blue seas and the western coastline of peninsular Malaysia. "Selamat tinggal Malaysia" (Goodbye Malaysia).
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| AirAsia Airbus A330 |
My next door neighbour on the flight is a very nice Russian guy who took this flight because of the extremely cheap fare. According to him, he bought the ticket KUL-STN (one way) for RM499 (Pound Sterling 100). Wow....dirt cheap ! He seats on 3H. The middle seat is empty. Thus a good space between us, especially during mealtime. This guy is married to a Thai national. They lived in Chiang Rai about 800 km to the North of Bangkok. According to him it's peaceful and quiet up there.... away from the hussle and bustle of downtown Bangkok. We soon talk about politics, religion, travels, and exchange details of our facebook and instagram accounts. He also introduce and recommend me to RT news (rt.com) where you can get some fair and balance news. I know that CNN and Fox news are inclined towards certain agendas but had not tried RT (Russia Today) before. Later, we excused ourselves for the badly needed rest until meal is served.
To be continued............................
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