Round The World and other travels

A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries

This is: The Portuguese Connection (2012)

The journey continues


ABOVE: Asiana Airlines Business Class lounge at ICN		   Our three-day journey from Portugal to its former colony, Macau, still had one flight and one ferry transfer to go. Being so close to the airport, we decided not to have breakfast at the hotel. We caught an earlier shuttle bus than the intended one, yet procedures at the airport took so long that we had surprisingly little time left in which to enjoy the lounge. (The extra time was largely taken up with the entirely voluntary matter of putting certain measures in place that were designed to optimise our enjoyment of the Seoul-Frankfurt flight towards the end of the trip - but it was surprisingly hard going!) The Asiana Airlines Business Class lounge featured beautiful physical surroundings, but the choice of food and drink was nothing to write home about - or even to 'tweet' about, whatever that means.    It was soon time to head for the gate.

(Link to flight log in side panel)

Transfer to the Macau ferry was straightforward and efficient, as might be expected at Hong Kong International Airport, and could be accomplished without the need to 'land' oneself in Hong Kong.

We purchased tickets for Turbojet's 'Super Class' cabin. I surrendered my airline baggage receipt so that ferry company staff could pull my bag from the belt and transfer it to the vessel. Normally such an arrangement might make me a little nervous, but somehow I felt that it would all run like clockwork.

Boarding started at 1445 for our 1515 sailing. We managed to get a group of three seats at the rear of the Super Class cabin, which made it feel a little like European-style Business Class, with the middle seat 'blocked' and holding some of our carry-on items. A very poor meal was served, based on a bland and tasteless tuna sandwich. As it was impossible to see anything at all out of the windows, I passed the time by reading.		  
ABOVE: Super Class cabin view of the HKG-Macau fast ferry during boarding

Huge immigration queues awaited us on arrival at a grey and gloomy-looking Macau. After picking up my suitcase, it was an easy matter to spot Westin staff; special arrangements were in place for the shuttle bus because of the Macau Grand Prix and Westin appeared to have done a good job in ensuring that sufficient staff were on the ground to prevent clients from feeling lost on arrival. After a short wait we were transferred to the hotel, situated on the former island of Coloane, which has now been combined with Taipa as a result of reclamation. I was already marvelling at the scale of the changes since my one previous visit to Macau in 1986, over a quarter of a century ago.

The Westin seemed impressive on our arrival in near-darkness. (This initial impression would be subject to some degree of revision following a daylight inspection.) After settling into our relatively spacious room, we sat out on the balcony for a while, trying not to be irritated by the loud music and spotlights associated with what looked like rehearsals for some upcoming outdoor event. A room service dinner ended the day, and indeed marked the conclusion of our marathon, but certainly not arduous, journey from south-west Europe.