Satellite
  • Day 80

    On the Way Home, Day 1 and 2

    March 22, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F

    We were a little concerned about disambarking process, but it went smoothly and by about 10:00 AM we were outside. The captain, hotel manager and cruise director formed the double line, joined by dozens from every department.
    I think they were relieved to see us go. They had very difficult last few weeks. All crew members worked long hours taking care of disfunctional old group of people.

    Most passangers paid $59 pp for the shuttle from the port to Perth airport, but I thought that Uber would be less expensive and we do not have to wait for 40+ people to get on the bus and get off the bus.
    So, I called Uber and within 5 minutes we were in a big SUV. The trip cost us $46. Big difference.
    We got to airport in 30 minutes and now had to wait for check in time. That is 7 PM.
    Lots of people were flying thru NZ. Unfortunately, they were informed, NZ does not let anyone who is not NZ citizen transit thru the country. So, what's now? People were panicking, calling relatives, travel agents and booking new flights without getting credit from United Airline for their flight. It is strange, but United did not know anything about this.
    So, very fast our plane became very full.
    At 7:00 PM we checked in. It was absolutely amazing how Japanese workers packed Boris's wheelchair. I have never seen it before.
    They took good care of us and escorted us to New Zealand lounge. We had comfortable seats, decent dinner and a glass of wine.
    The flight was on time, seats in business class were very comfortable and we managed to sleep for about 5 hours.
    The escort met us at the plane in Tokyo with a wheelchair and took us right the lounge. Now we have to be here for 8 hour to wait for our flight to San Francisco. So far so good.
    The plane to San Francisco was empty. I never seen fewer people on the plane. Business class had 6 people including us.
    We managed to sleep couple hours, but by now our system is completely screwed up.
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