Apologies once more on the silence on the blog, what is it about the festive period that just makes everyone so busy!? Anyway, since my last post I flew to Houston where for the first time in a very long time I did nothing with my layover. The crew weren’t bothered for very much and I used my allowance for some last minute Christmas shopping and caught up on sleep before my leave, so I have nothing to report from there. Won’t be doing it again though as I have never been SO bored on a layover.

Following on from this we’ve had Christmas so a belated Happy Holidays everyone. I also turned 24 which was nice to celebrate at home as a lovely colleague took my turn around to Bahrain so that I could be with my family and friends back in Leeds, and we also brung in the New Year as I made my way to work for this flight. So a very happy new year to everyone who’s been reading! I hope 2018 brings you health and happiness, and brings me lots of new destinations to explore!

We had an early departure out of Dubai at 3am with a nice 6 and a half hours over to Hong Kong International Airport. Landing late afternoon, we made our way across to the hotel. I was asking around the crew if anyone was either

a) up for going to grab some dinner or
b) hiking dragons back at some point during the layover

But with a lot of people having returned from leave and most people exhausted from our early start and long day at work with an incredibly full flight, no one seemed enthused. I however at least wanted to get out and see Hong Kong a little bit so I got changed and wandered out to grab something to eat.

It had been around 18 months since I was last in Hong Kong and work had sent me there quite a lot so I’d kind of fallen out of love with the city. However, with just a brisk walk around I became reacquainted with its hidden charms and enjoyed weaving my way in and out of the bustling streets packed out with people who were continuing the new year celebrations.

I stumbled across one of my favourite restaurants Din Tai Fung and couldn’t resist heading in for some Xaoi Long Bao and other delicacies. So I grabbed a table for one and ordered some dishes and got tucking in. What a great way to kick off 2018 food wise.

It was then back to the hotel as I wanted an early night to try and get up early the next morning and go walk Dragon’s Back.

Weirdly, I awoke at 2:45am sooo hungry despite eating all that food. So I quickly got something from room service and hoped that I would get a couple more hours sleep. But it seems I was a little jet lagged and ended up staying awake right through til the morning, so I went to the gym and had some breakfast when I started to feel sleepy again and got a couple hours more sleep before the flight. Worked out in my favour anyhow as the weather was incredibly foggy the next morning and wouldn’t have been worth the hike without the views! So maybe next time!

The flight back was lovely as I was working in business class due to a crew member being sick. It’s always nice for a change of scenery and I enjoyed the 8 hour flight back serving drinks and chatting with passengers in the lounge.

A very simple layover but I’ve found my love back for Hong Kong and will look forward to being able to hike Dragons Back on my next layover there.

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