Tuesday 7th November

Feasted on a massive set-list breakfast consisting of fruit, mie-gorang and pandan pancakes with plantain. I’ve no idea why food potions are so ridiculously huge, Balinese people are tiny, there is no way they consume all this in one sitting. Maybe Westerners in the past have demanded more food.

Tony and Lu joined the table and began to tell us about their disruptive night. Apparently a little after midnight, some guest was walking up and down the path outside their patio and talking loudly into a mobile phone which was on loudspeaker, for over an hour. When the chatting did not seem to cease at 1am Tony had to ring reception who in fairness straight away approached the guest and resolved the issue.

Unfortunately at 5am another guest sat out on the balcony with a radio blaring prayer call sounds. Some other irate guest yelled at them to shut up but it rendered no action. Again Tony had to call the girl on reception and ask that she assist. Thankfully despite being across the way from them, I had not heard any of these commotions. Think the air-con is the white noise that I focus on and try to ignore, and so I hear nothing else.

At 9:20am a minibus arrived to take Tony, Lu and Robin on the next bit of their journey. Hugs and farewell wishes all round. So bloody depressing!

The twins returned to their hotel to have breakfast and I went back to my room to finish packing and to don long trousers and runners, prep for arrival at colder climates (plus my bag won’t shut unless I wear all the bulky crap). Our transfer was set for 10:30am and we had booked the services of Kadek, our day-trip driver from earlier in the week. He arrived promptly with the twins and so it was time for me to say farewell to Geoff and Jenny. Again, hugs and farewell wishes all round. Again, so bloody depressing!

Had a 90 minute ride to airport, traffic was nowhere near as congested as when we arrived back in October. I’m now going to be stupidly early for my flight. Ah well, better early than late (and stressing!). Parted company with Amy and Jess at the airport, Kadek was also taking them to their next destination. He was getting great business outta them. Again, hugs and farewell wishes all round. Again, so bloody depressing! Really not liking this repetitious behaviour, I’ll be in a miserable funk all day at this rate.

Today was a day for second breakfast, besides I couldn’t do anything other than hang about in the airport lobby as gates weren’t open and wouldn’t be listed for another hour. Had a very tasty avocado and feta bruschetta and spent the rest of my time people watching.

Had a few Indonesian rupees to spend so I purchased food and Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods”; figured that might get me through the five hour layover wait I was going to have in Bangkok.

At the Thai Airways desk the lady was like “so you are travelling to Cork, you will need to collect your bag in Heathrow, okay?”. Hmmm. Ahhmm. “No. Not okay. Can you not put it all the way through to Cork please?”  She checked the system and was like “No. You will need to collect your bag in Heathrow, okay?”. I kinda knew it was futile but again I suggested “No. Are you sure you can’t put it all the way through to Cork please?”. She called over another staff member, he looked at her screen, he looked at me. “No. You will need to collect your bag in Heathrow, okay?”.Well, I’ve asked you twice to put it through to Cork, so it is obviously not okay sir. Not at all. Boooo! “Really? Heathrow? Not Cork?”. “We can only get it to Heathrow, okay?”.This “okay” malarkey was beginning to severely grate but I realised I’d lost this battle. “Fine. Heathrow. Fine”. Crap, note to self don’t use usual connecting flights section, pick up bag. Added faff and hassle!

Boarded the Bali-Bangkok Thai Airways flight, again greeted by lovely attendants, respectfully bowing to me and gesturing where I should go. Watched two movies and the four hours passed. Note to anyone who hasn’t seen it, Ghost in the Shell is shite. So terrible! I very nearly switched it off, but I’m stupidly persistent and always follow through. 106 minutes that I’m never ever getting back and that was completely wasted.

Arrived into Bangkok at 7pm and my connecting flight was not until midnight; cue me finding a nice comfy armchair, pulling out my stash of nibbles, taking off my shoes and tucking up into the chair, and horsing through “American Gods”. Didn’t finish it, but got through a sizeable chunk before I had to go to the boarding gate.

We were late boarding the plane, only 30 minutes, so that wouldn’t affect my connection in Heathrow. Sat in my aisle seat, there was a short Asian guy in the middle and a very tall Australian at the window. Once the doors closed I started scanning the surrounding seats to see if I could spy two empties that I might occupy. The Thai Airways attendant passed our row and asked me if the three of us were together, I told him no and he nodded and headed off. Oooh, that could be promising right? Sure enough, he returned a minute later, addressed the Australia guy and asked if he would like to move up to the first row as it had more leg space. Damn! I nearly cried. The guy practically vaulted over me vacating the seat. It be fair he was about 6”5’ and his knees were up by his ears, but still...booo! The Asian lad moved from the middle seat to the window and so I started eyeing up the vacant spot. He was tiny and didn’t need much space. I was deliberating if I could sit on the aisle seat while placing my head on the now vacant middle seat. After a few head tilts and eye squints, I figured I might just manage it.

Still we had not taken off, we’re now an hour behind schedule. Hmmm. Again the attendant passes me, only this time he does a strange beckoning movement. While I clocked it, I wasn’t sure if it was intended for me, so I continued to stay put. The attendant came back a few rows and beckoned and nodded his head forward to me, so I jumped up, grabbed my bag and followed him. He led me into the next cabin and proudly gestured towards a COMPETELY EMPTY MIDDLE ROW!!!! I could have kissed him. Four seats, ALL MINE!!!!! There are travel gods and today they love me. I beamed delightedly at him and said “Thank you very much”. Grabbed all of the pillows and a cosy blanket.

Stayed awake for takeoff, cause apparently you must be buckled in and seated in an upright position, pft! Started prepping my makeshift bed using the pillows to cover the awkward buckles and nabbing spares to give myself a 3-high stack of pillows for my head. Soooo excited folks, I might actually get to sleep on a plane! Just before I hunkered down for the night the attendants came around with dinner. So I inhaled that and returned the empty tray. Now, sleep, let’s be having you...

While I’d love to be able to say I got great sleep, I didn’t. However, I did nap in like 30-min and 1-hour bursts. The main thing was I felt I got rest and was more comfortable than sitting upright for the 11 hours. Happy days!