Turbulent Times...airport to airport, train to train and hotel to hotel

I'm not quite sure how to start this one......but Heathrow may be a good place so I'll go with that! After a 4am journey down to Heathrow with the mother, it was time to say goodbye which was rather emotional, I was ok until she started crying which also made me cry, not because I was sad to be leaving because I have so been waiting for this trip for months, but because I know I wont see mum until Christmas which seems like a century away right now. So off I went to check in with streaming eyes for my flight to Hong Kong.

The flight was turbulent to say the least - my seat was next to a couple who's only topic of conversation seemed to be tonsil tennis. Originally I asked to be put in the middle of the plane as I know I don't travel too well at the back, however my tv screen handset wasn't working so I was moved to the only spare seat on the plane (which was only spare due to one passenger being refused boarding for immigration reasons which made our plane delayed because they had to get his suitcase off the plane before we could take off), which just so happened to be 2 rows from the back of the plane.

So with slight concern, I moved seats as I decided it was best to make a get away from the tonsil tennis loving couple I had been sitting next too. I then ended up next to a guy who was from Amsterdam and couldn't speak much English - to be honest this suited me fine as I wasn't really in the mood for talking, still slightly tear stained and just wanted to sleep. And my gosh did I try to sleep, however Mr Amsterdam had other ideas. Everytime I was almost asleep, he wanted to get out and have a walk around - after this happened 3 times within the space of a couple of hours and no sleep, I suggested maybe he would like to swap seats. His response was a resounding no, much to my disappointment as he explained in basic English he wanted a window seat to see out.

With broken sleep here and there we eventually got served lunch/dinner (whichever timezone you decide you want to be in - I chose Hong Kong and dinner). However after 3 mouthfuls, my stomach realised where it was sitting and decided it didn't like it one bit, not even one nice mouthful.

Having tried and failed to eat anything on the plane as my stomach decided Qantas airways food was not good, we landed to Hong Kong's first typhoon of the season which was turbulent to say the least.

Having exited the airport, I braved the rain like a proper English tourist, minus umbrella and rain mac, but sporting a t-shirt and jeans to find where we were staying. To say I stood out would be an understatement, picture me with a bright pink suitcase and red backpack walking down the street in the middle of a typhoon while all the locals stand in doorways for protection - hilarious!

I found our building and thought finally this can't get much worse - how wrong was I. Panic started to set in when I asked for directions and was put into an mdf lift which was taped together in places and sent to the 15th floor which was apparently where my written down address took me too. On exiting the lift, I found the entrance and made attempts to check in, however the maid didn't speak English and I was put on the phone to someone to talk to. I was already getting bad vibes and when I got into our room the first thing I did was get on the internet and google other hotels - there was no way I could stay here. There was no safe, the bathroom door was see through frosted glass, the shower was a shower head over the sink and all the tiles in the bathroom were cracked.

After a short stay in the room it was time to get back to the airport to meet my first arrival - Amrit. To say I was really happy to see her doesn't cover the huge relief when I saw her coming through arrivals. She dislikes hugs but I gave her the biggest hug ever - panic over I was no longer alone! We got to work on finding a new place to stay and got a really good deal on a triple room in a 3 star hotel which we are now in and is lovely.

We then waited for our second arrival - Selina, who was delayed coming from Doha. As we made our way and checked into our new hotel, I've never felt such relief ever in my life - it was clean, tidy, spoke English without being on a telephone to somewhere you didn't know, had an actual bath and a safe - happy times all round!

Having showered, we headed out for food and then for a walk across Hong Kong harbour at night which was beautiful - the rain had stopped and it was warm. On return to the hotel we were all shattered and were out like lights, definately the best nights sleep I've had since leaving home at 4am on Saturday morning!

Moral of the story - travel together and don't pick a guesthouse on the 15th floor of an mdf made lift.