Wineding up

A burger on my patio with a Chilean Carmenere - lost variant of Cabernet that ended up in Chile. It is a lovely drink and one we should be growing here. An early start and the run was in the dark. 3 hours prior to the airport was a good call. The airport was chockers and with few check in counters. It was very slow. Immigration was in Fiji time as well. A large modern terminal and likewise for the Premium Fiji Airlines Lounge. Good job it is a big lounge as not long after I settled in it was full house! Not bad coffee, good prosecco and perfectly cooked scrambled eggs. The congee was a good addition but lacked taste. Going to the gate was an effort as the terminal was so crowded it was like football game. The crew was late so that delayed us boarding. I was pretty pleased to see we were on an A350 - I have been looking forward to flying on one and it is worth the wait (Qantas don't have any). Even better I had an aisle seat in an EMPTY row of 3!! Very exciting watching the plane take off with the underbody camera and it's very quiet - impressed! 3/4 hour late departure but only 20 mins late into BNE. About 2 months after I booked the flights Fiji Airlines changed the departure from Nadi from 10am to 8am. This left me with a 5 hour stopover in BNE rather than 3. I have tried to change it but the prices are now over double!! (thanks Bonza/Rex) - I can sit in an airport!! However I received the bad news from the DEA CEO while waiting that I haven't been selected to the board for another term - the chair has been rolled!! Not quite sure what to think as yet - other than go to the bar and get a drink! The CNS flight ended up being delayed for nearly an hour making this a long day. Dinner (for me) was a very acceptable meat pie with an excellent Seppeltsfield Grenache. Airlines are clearly ditching plastic for all drinks in economy (Fiji was the same). The amount of plastic cups thrown out would probably be staggering! Back home now safely and in my own little tropical patch. A short trip but very relaxing - I didn't do any more or less than I expected so it was perfect.Baca lagi