Day 22: on my way - and home

Awake early, showered, dressed, while topping up battery charges on all devices, down to reception by 7.30am. 7.55 pick up already there. I was at Heathrow by 8.10 and in Qantas club by 8.30.

My driver was from Egypt. He has a son in South Korea and a daughter in England. He and his wife are in the process of moving from London to East Devon- for lifestyle and affordability. I was his last job for the day. Airport work has largely dried up (familiar story). He was going to join his wife in Devon later today and take a break until, hopefully, things recover. He is well-informed, thoughtful. The world, he says, will need to change. It can't be the same again. I hope it works out for him.

Qantas is sharing check-in stations with Finnair. There are queues and queues for Finnair. Much congestion. The controllers are getting exasperated. I ask how to find Qantas and am told ‘if you can push your way past this lot, Qantas is down the end’. It’s very peaceful down the Qantas end, but then, the flight is more than three hours away.

Several of the half a dozen  checking in have, what seems to me, enormous amounts of luggage. The one in front of me puts hers on and takes it off several times in different order. Phone calls are made. In the end she gets a boarding pass, two bags get through and she  takes the ski shaped package off somewhere. My modest bag goes through, I’m asked if I know about self isolation requirements, told to pick up my luggage in Perth and shown how to get through customs to the Qantas Club. 

Here it’s pretty calm. We keep the 1.5 metre distance easily. 

While the barista makes my coffee I chat to a man heading back to Perth with his wife. He booked their seats on this flight at 2am this morning. They arrived in London 3 days ago on an Etihad flight from Australia  to tour Europe. Re-entry requirements were introduced while they were in flight. When he heard yesterday that Virgin are stopping flights in and out of Australia they decided to return immediately, and managed to get on this flight! So many stories.

This is my travel project at the start of this journey. It will be interesting to see how far it progresses

I bid silent farewell to England's Green and Pleasant Land.





or otherwise.

The woman with the ski equipment is on board and taking extreme precautions. She wears a face mask and wraps a wooden scarf around her face and the mask. When she leaves her seat she wears rubber gloves ( the washing up variety). A couple of young men wipe all the surfaces of their seat and surrounds before sitting down. Crew deliver toiletries and pjs, then the food service and immigration forms but generally keep their distance. They don’t help with seat covers for sleeping. Everyone is quiet and respectful. Not much moving around.

I took my melatonin tablet around 3pm London time and was asleep by about 4pm London time, about midnight in Perth. I slept around 5 hours. That should put me in a good position to sleep tonight in Adelaide.

I make progress on my owl. It’s a 16+ hour flight, so I get about 9 hours of stitching. 

At Perth we are delayed leaving the plane because someone at the back of the plane has to be checked by a doctor who boards in full protective gear. After about 10 minutes we are allowed to disembark from the front of the plane. 

There was no time in Perth to finish this blog. I had 68 emails - most telling me of closures (including SA Embroiderers’ Guild) or continuing services (my dentist!). My daughters are anxious to hear I’ve arrived. ! A neighbour who hasn’t followed this blog wants to know if I am OK and is trying to organise a local independent grocer to take phone orders and get them to isolated people in our apartments.

I tried writing this in the flight from Perth to Adelaide, which had wifi - but it didn't work.  The crew are helpful and cheerful. They have no work certainty. Cabin staff are being rostered from the end of the month on a seniority basis. Our flight steward is newish. He thinks the company is doing the right thing and treating staff fairly. Pilots on international routes are being stood down. They are understanding and very attentive. The steward gives me a bottle of wine. I was the only one to have a glass of it, and it will go to waste. I leave the airport with a wine bottle sticking out of my luggage.

My driver from Adelaide airport home reckons he's currently earning $30 a day. Not enough to pay his bills. He is trying to get a job stacking shelves at a supermarket to make ends meet. He is not bitter, but sees that this is affecting everyone - and we need ongoing support, not one-off interventions.

When I arrive home there is a package at the outside door of my apartment. The driver spots it. A set of basic food stuff from a nieghbour to get me started. Heart warming. I am a sight in the lift - bottle of wine sticking out and food parcel dangling from my finger.

In my fridge are a heap of berries,a mango and a kilo of coffee beans from my daughter to get me through breakfast. My neighbours have turned my water back on for me.

I open up the doors to my balconies to get a breeze through the place.  My daughters want to know I'm safely home. We all feel a bit better for my being home in such times.

I was really tired on the last flight. This time it took 26 hours door to door. Pretty good for a flight to Oz. It's now 9.30 pm. At the moment I'm wide awake, but hoping to be able to sleep relatively normally tonight.

I'll let you know how I go. I am going to keep this blog going while I'm in self-isolation. Several people have indicated they are interested. Please let me know if you want to opt out. There's a sense we are all in this together and are learning our way through. Together. I feel so privileged and supported by family and friends. And humbled by the service, goodwill and kindness of those who have got me here today in very challenging times.

Day 2: Getting to Stratford-on-Avon

I arrived at the Arden Hotel, Stratford-on-Avon, 28 hours and 15 minutes after I left my apartment in Adelaide. This might seem a long time to some, but to someone who first travelled from Sydney to London 52 years ago, this is pretty good travelling!

It was surprisingly to me, a nostalgic trip. Qantas has new videos to outline the safety features and instructions of aircraft. The video on the 737 Adelaide-Perth leg cleverly used footage shot in various cities around the world serviced by Qantas to illustrate individual elements such as brace position, seat belt closure, escape slide position. The Perth-London Dreamliner video used historical settings and uniforms from the 1950s through decades to today. It reminded me so much of my mother, who began working for Qantas in their staff canteen at Mascot airport in 1959. She was soon in love with Qantas, its history, the planes, the pilots, the 'hosties' - and travelled on most of the planes in the video in the more than 25 years she continued working for them as a file clerk. My brother and I heard all about it - the history, the changes, the daily interactions. It was often tedious, but left me with a strong sense of the impact of aviation on Australia. I really appreciate that Qantas values that history and maintains it as part of its culture and brand. My mother would have loved it.

On the first leg to Perth I mostly read, but did begin the first of my grab-and-go travel projects. I chose two bags I bought a few years ago. They are a reasonable size - roughly 35cm x 40cm - and were marketed as bags to be coloured with water-setting pencils or felt-pens. I thought the kids might like them but I had missed the moment. Although the figures are larger than the zenbroidery I have done before, I thought they would make great travel projects, using some of the 5 perle thread I've used for zenbroidery.

The bags are double-sided, with the same print on both sides of the bag. I began with this one.

We were delayed about 40 minutes out of Perth. so no sunset view. It was overcast and raining.

We made up the lost time, but the flight is currently 18, rather than 17 hours,  because the route has been rescheduled over Singapore and further north due to air traffic control issues 'in the Middle East'.




I had the 'supper' then slept, on and off for over 10 hours. I finished a book and got the eyes on one side of the bag to this point. It is a lot of fun working out which stitches and colours to try.

Technologies at airports have advanced since I travelled a year ago. Clearly data is being gathered and shared: no immigration or customs forms required, ePassports dominate and luggage screening happens as you move. Heathrow at 6am was very efficient. I had only a few minutes wait for my airport transport & the 90 minute drive to Stratford-on-Avon.

It was a miserable, wet, misty and cold morning, reminding me again of why I don't drive when on my own in England at this time of year.



So here I am, in the warm and cosy visitors' lounge at the Arden Hotel, with a few hours to wait for my room to be available, the sun struggling out, swans on the river, feeling relatively rested and content.

Might advance that owl.