Our stresslevel has been severely tested...
Door: Lydia
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Lydia
17 Februari 2008 | Australië, Brisbane
Our journey started a bit on a “rocky road”… It started at the airport in Dusseldorf… When we arrived there, the flight was cancelled. Luckily we could be booked onto an earlier flight, but it was delayed for about an hour, so we arrived at London Heathrow at about 8.15 in the morning. Our flight to Hong Kong would be leaving at 12.25, so some time to kill. When it was finally boarding time, we were told that the flight was overbooked… Yeah, so? So, this means, you are not getting on this flight. Ehhh.. right?? You must be kidding… RIGHT? No, they were not kidding, the flight was really overbooked and we had to go to the ticket desk and try to be booked onto another flight… WOW… we really had some bad luck before with suitcases getting lost and 8 hour delays etc. but this was the one thing we were still missing… a flight which is overbooked. To be honest, I never actually heard of that before, but hey… there’s a first time for everything. So we went to the ticket desk and to make a long story short, we were booked onto another flight at 6.40 in the evening and that flight got a delay of about 2 hours, so in stead of arriving at 8 in the morning, we arrived at 4.30 in the afternoon in Hong Kong and can you guess what happened next? Of course you can… Our suitcases got lost… Sure, we already took that into account with all the flight changes, so it was actually no surprise, what was a surprise however, was that nobody could tell us WHERE the suitcases were…??? They would keep the hotel informed, if they found out more.
So, we lost almost a complete day in Hong Kong, but we can tell you that we LOVED this city. The people were very friendly, we loved the food, everywhere were decorations for the Chinese new year, so a lot of red and pink decorations all around. And of course there were a lot of neon lights at night. It looked marvelous and in the evening they held an illumination show at the boardwalk. We really enjoyed it!
The next day we woke up very early, to enjoy the city some more. Before doing some serious sightseeing, we again checked with the airport about our suitcases, but unfortunately they still could not tell us where our suitcases would be… Why?? I really couldn’t understand, but it’s holiday and I didn’t want to spend my holiday moaning about lost suitcases. I was sure that eventually they would turn up again, so back to our sightseeing.
We started with a walk along the river and from there we took the subway up to Woon tai temple. This is one of the biggest temples in the city and quite famous. When we got out of the subway we immediately noticed the smell of incense. As soon as we walked up to the temple we saw a lot of people, all gathering to go in. It soon became clear that they were all going there because of the Chinese new year. They were all burning incense, some people even burned about 20 sticks at once… can you imagine the smell and the smoke? Well, the more we moved in, the more crowded it got and finally our eyes began to burn and tear of all the smoke… We could not handle this… it was too extreme! So before getting to the end, we went back to the exit and decided to take the subway to the peak tower. The peak tower is situated in the financial district. Everything is very clean and there are a lot of sky scrapers. (This was quite a big contrast with the crowd and the incense at the temple…) At the peak tower you have a terrific overview over the city which looks pretty impressive. After this we went back to central where we had a terrific late lunch. To walk around such a city always makes me happy, I love the liveliness, the buildings, the old parts of the city, the temples, the habits etc. etc. It’s so nice to experience new cultures, new things, new countries, I just LOVE to travel!
The rest of the day we just strolled around the city and at 6 we went back to our hotel where they gave us a letter from the airport saying that the luggage had been found! Whoehoe! I knew it! Before checking in, we could pick it up at the baggage belts and at 8.30 in the evening we checked in for our flight to Brisbane. This flight was on time and everything went very smooth, we even got our suitcases back ;-)
So this morning our uncle picked us up at the airport, and that is were we are now. We spent the day on Bribie Island (where he is living). They showed us around a little bit and we had a very nice “barbie”. Tomorrow we will visit Brisbane, but our first impression is very good! We’re looking forward to the rest of our trip!
Talk to you soon!
Hugs,
Lydia & Mostafa
P.S. So far, no creepy crawlers :)
Oh…and the temperature was about 25 degrees today, with sunshine!!!
So, we lost almost a complete day in Hong Kong, but we can tell you that we LOVED this city. The people were very friendly, we loved the food, everywhere were decorations for the Chinese new year, so a lot of red and pink decorations all around. And of course there were a lot of neon lights at night. It looked marvelous and in the evening they held an illumination show at the boardwalk. We really enjoyed it!
The next day we woke up very early, to enjoy the city some more. Before doing some serious sightseeing, we again checked with the airport about our suitcases, but unfortunately they still could not tell us where our suitcases would be… Why?? I really couldn’t understand, but it’s holiday and I didn’t want to spend my holiday moaning about lost suitcases. I was sure that eventually they would turn up again, so back to our sightseeing.
We started with a walk along the river and from there we took the subway up to Woon tai temple. This is one of the biggest temples in the city and quite famous. When we got out of the subway we immediately noticed the smell of incense. As soon as we walked up to the temple we saw a lot of people, all gathering to go in. It soon became clear that they were all going there because of the Chinese new year. They were all burning incense, some people even burned about 20 sticks at once… can you imagine the smell and the smoke? Well, the more we moved in, the more crowded it got and finally our eyes began to burn and tear of all the smoke… We could not handle this… it was too extreme! So before getting to the end, we went back to the exit and decided to take the subway to the peak tower. The peak tower is situated in the financial district. Everything is very clean and there are a lot of sky scrapers. (This was quite a big contrast with the crowd and the incense at the temple…) At the peak tower you have a terrific overview over the city which looks pretty impressive. After this we went back to central where we had a terrific late lunch. To walk around such a city always makes me happy, I love the liveliness, the buildings, the old parts of the city, the temples, the habits etc. etc. It’s so nice to experience new cultures, new things, new countries, I just LOVE to travel!
The rest of the day we just strolled around the city and at 6 we went back to our hotel where they gave us a letter from the airport saying that the luggage had been found! Whoehoe! I knew it! Before checking in, we could pick it up at the baggage belts and at 8.30 in the evening we checked in for our flight to Brisbane. This flight was on time and everything went very smooth, we even got our suitcases back ;-)
So this morning our uncle picked us up at the airport, and that is were we are now. We spent the day on Bribie Island (where he is living). They showed us around a little bit and we had a very nice “barbie”. Tomorrow we will visit Brisbane, but our first impression is very good! We’re looking forward to the rest of our trip!
Talk to you soon!
Hugs,
Lydia & Mostafa
P.S. So far, no creepy crawlers :)
Oh…and the temperature was about 25 degrees today, with sunshine!!!
-
17 Februari 2008 - 10:49
Sally:
Welcome! Hope the creepy crawlies stay away! -
17 Februari 2008 - 11:05
Lieke:
Zo, das 'n lekkere binnenkomer. Geshuffel met de vluchten en bagage die kwijt is.... Gelukkig hebben jullie je dagje Hongkong daardoor niet laten bederven. En gelukkig zijn jullie het laatste deel van de reis zonder problemen doorgekomen. Eindelijk op de plek van bestemming! Ik ben benieuwd naar de volgende verhalen!!!! Liefs, Lieke -
17 Februari 2008 - 13:19
Anita:
Past echt bij jullie deze ervaringen!!!Ben benieuwd wat de volgende beproevingen worden!? En zeker weten blijven die creepy crawlers bij je vandaan! Die zijn veel te bang voor Moes!
Geniet van jullie ervaringen en maak veel foto's!! Kus!! -
17 Februari 2008 - 14:27
Marcel En Cyndi:
Hoi, goed om iets te horen.
Al met al een enerverend begin van de reis!
Leuk om zo meteen jullie ervaringen te kunnen lezen. Zo ver weg en toch dichtbij.Hier is het zonnig winters weer.
Hoop gauw weer iets te lezen!! en veel groetjes
dagdag
-
17 Februari 2008 - 18:07
Gwenda:
Joehoe!
Nou, nou, jullie zijn Australie goed begonnen.... Gelukkig kan het altijd erger (overstromingen, orkanen...) Doe als de Australiers: RELAX en KEEP SMILING!!! :-)
Wat heerlijk dat jullie lekker weer hebben. Ons enige advises: GENIETEN, GENIETEN, GENIETEN.
We verheugen ons op al jullie volgende belevenissen.
Liefs, wij -
17 Februari 2008 - 21:44
John:
Hey guys, wat een verhaal weer zeg. Lyd, we hebben 't er nog met jeroen over gehad, weet je nog, hahahaha.... anyway toch aangekomen en alles uiteindelijk nog goed gekomen.... enjoy a lot down under..
greets en X van Marina en John.
-
18 Februari 2008 - 08:17
Alexandra:
Wat een slechte start :( maar meestal als de start slecht is, is de rest GEWELDIG!
XXX -
18 Februari 2008 - 11:56
Richard M.:
Hallo Lydia en Moustafa
Dit soort avontuurtjes horen er gewoon bij. Achteraf kan je er vaak goed om lachen. Jullie grootste avontuur kan nu beginnen. Veel succes en genieten maar!!!!!
Richard, Conny en Dorné -
18 Februari 2008 - 14:27
Ing:
Zo zo, lekker begin van jullie vakantie zeg! Maar gelukkig hebben jullie je stay in Hong Kong er niet door laten verpesten! Geniet van jullie super vakantie in Australie!!
Groetjes Ing, JP & Quinten -
18 Februari 2008 - 16:02
Trudy:
Hallo globetrotters,
wat een verhaal ! En wat een positiviteit weer van jullie. Dat is wat ik aan jullie zo leuk vind ! ( oa. !!! )
Even een tip: ik zag gisteravond op tv dat er in Melbourne een toren is waar je vanaf een heeeeeeel hoog op een soort "uitschuifterras" van glas een grandioos uitzicht hebt. Zoek dat op, het loont de moeite.
Fijne reis nog
Dikke zoen,
Trudy
eh ja....ons weekje Spanje was ook leuk.....! -
18 Februari 2008 - 16:59
Silvia:
Nou nou, wat een avontuur zeg!!!! Maar uiteindelijk komt alles goed, toch?
Joep, Sanne en ik willen jullie nog iets zeggen: GENIETEN!!!!!!!!!!!
Wij wachten met smart op jullie volgende verhalen.
Jruss Sil, Joep en Sanne -
19 Februari 2008 - 08:44
ANS&RENÉ:
Hallo Lieverds,
Blij om te horen dat jullie goed aangekomen zijn ; dat Moes rustig was wisten we al , maar dat Lyd zo rustig is gebleven was een openbaring.
We blijven jullie volgen en geniet van jullie reis.
Liefs en XXX
Ans & René -
19 Februari 2008 - 09:51
Pascal D.:
Ik hoop wel dat er nog iets spannends gaat gebeuren ;-)
Beetje saai zo GAAAAAP
Enjoy! -
20 Februari 2008 - 20:02
Ray S.:
Moes en Lyd,
Buiten de gebeurtenissen op zich is de manier waarop Lydia dit allemaal beschrijft ook puur genieten aan onze zijde.
Ben benieuwd naar jullie volgende belevenissen.
Take care -
04 Maart 2008 - 19:19
Pierre:
Leuke spinnetjes..haha
Wat een gedoe allemaal, maar dat hoort schijnbaar bij deze ervaring en dat zullen jullie ook nooit meer vergeten.
Geniet van dit mooie land en ik zal in het koude Nederland (met sneeuw nu) jullie reis vervolgen.
Veel plezier
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