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Events of Tuesday, 21st May 2019: Leaving Mandalay
Doctor Hla Tun insisted that on Tuesday morning we would travel together to Mandalay Airport in the Monastery car where he would take a flight to Yangon, I would start my long journey home via Bangkok and the two Monastery drivers would return by road to Bagan. To fortify myself for the journey, I made sure of a decent breakfast - fried eggs, beans, roll and butter, yoghurt, orange juice and tea.
Mandalay, 2019: Breakfast at the Hilton Hotel.
Then, whilst savouring the view of Mandalay Hill, the Royal Palace moat and walls from my room, I completed my packing.
Mandalay, 2019: View from my room at the Hilton Hotel.
At the arranged time, Doctor Hla Tun picked up me and my luggage in the Monastery car (already loaded with two lorry tyres purchased in Mandalay required for the Monastery's water tanker which delivers water to various villages around Bagan). On arrival at the airport, there were hasty 'goodbyes' as the Doctor had little time to check in for his domestic flight. I had plenty of time to check-in, mooch around the international terminal and watch the various comings and goings.
Mandalay International Airport: Terminal Layout.
I watched with interest as the Bangkok Air flight arrived, discharged its passengers, their baggage and air freight and loaded baggage and air freight for my flight - PG710 departing at 14:05 on the 2 hour, 1020km flight to Bangkok.
Mandalay Airport: Bangkok Air arrival passing in front of two of the turboprops which provide internal services in Myanmar.
Mandalay Airport: Bangkok Air flight discharging and loading baggage.
A pleasant flight took me to Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok where I knew there would be a fair walk to complete the transfer to my Qatar Airways flight to Doha.
Bangkok Airport.
I'd not been with Qatar via Bangkok before, so I made sure I checked-out the relaxing Qatar Lounge before joining flight QR833, leaving at 20:40. Doha was reached seven hours later, after a 5280km flight.
Qatar Airways Lounge in Bangkok Airport.
Like Dubai Airport, Hamad International Airport in Doha is a major transit hub. The Business Lounge is an excellent place to relax between flights
Part of the tranquil restaurant area in the Business Lounge, Hamad International Airport, Doha.
My final flight QR035 left at 01:50 local time for the seven hour, 5358 km leg to Birmingham.
Arriving Birmingham Wednesday, 22nd May 2019
I slept for part of the journey and, as we neared our destination, was woken by a beautifully-presented simple breakfast, exactly as ordered. I was particularly taken with the imitation 'candle' decorative table lamp - actually electric but with a 'flicker' effect.
Breakfast in the Clouds: Returning to Birmingham by Qatar Airways.
And so I felt surprisingly refreshed when we landed after the marathon 11658 km, 7243 mile journey from Mandalay at the end of another amazing trip to Myanmar!
Related posts on this website
This is one of a series of posts describing my 14th visit to Myanmar. The post Return to Burma is the first post in the series.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link (where shown) displays the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Burma 2019 reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Burma 2019 reports.
This is the last post describing this trip.
My pictures
All my general pictures on this trip are in the collection of albums Burma 2019
This is the 16th and last post describing an 'Expedition Cruise' with Noble Caledonia in 2020 under the title 'Across the Tropic of Capricorn'.
Events of Friday 28th/Saturday 29th February 2020
I was booked to leave Cairns for home on the noon flight to Melbourne. Most of the Noble Caledonia passengers were travelling later that afternoon but a few, with different flight arrangements, were leaving earlier so a transfer to the airport had been arranged for 09:45 which I joined.
There were brief "good byes" as we were dropped-off outside Departures then I had a brief struggle to get my luggage to the right check-in queue. Fortunately, it didn't take long to complete the fomalities and then, with plenty of time in hand, I made my way to the Quantas Lounge to await my flight at the end of my very brief, but interesting, visit to Cairns.
The relaxed atmosphere in the spacious Lounge was just what I needed and, for once, I was glad of the effective air conditioning as the day was rapidly warming up.
Business Class Lounge, Cairns Airport, Australia
View from Business Class Lounge, Cairns Airport, Australia
I faced a long journey back to my local airport, Birmingham in the UK, comprising four 'legs' with changes in Melbourne, Singapore and Dubai:-
CNS-MEL 3h 15m 1432m 2305km
MEL-SIN 7h 40m 3743m 6024km
SIN-DXB 7h 30m 3633m 5847km
DXB-BHX 7h 00m 3482m 5603km
This amounts to over 1 day actually in the air and, allowing for transit times, well over 30 hours from Cairns to Birmingham. This is really a minor hardship compared with the journeys travellers in previous centuries had to undertake.
The short leg to Melbourne was in economy class. I was already tiring on arrival but managed to find my way to the departure gate successfully for the Emirates Business Class leg to Singapore.
Melbourne Airport, Australia: View during taxiing, with city in the distance.
I was looked after very well on the flight to Singapore, during which I learnt that the same aircraft would be continuing from Singapore to Dubai, after a crew change at Singapore, but that all passengers would have to disembark, transit through security with their hand baggage and then re-board. I'd also been told that there was a new Emirates Lounge at the airport so I thought it might be an idea to have a look at it. Despite the comfortable flight to Singapore, I was starting to get exhausted so I had some difficulty locating the lounge after quite a long walk. I was warmly welcomed and, when I mentioned that I was a bit worried about the walk from the lounge to the departure gate for re-boarding, they insisted on arranging 'Assistance' in the form of an athletic young man pushing me in a wheelchair, which made resuming my previous seat on the waiting aircraft simple and quick.
Having flown Melbourne-Singapore in this aircraft, I transited two security checks to re-board and continue to Dubai!
Safely back on board the two-engined widebody, we took off on our long flight to Dubai. The new crew were as attentive as the earlier crew and I managed some reasonable sleep during the flight. The massive airport in Dubai is a noisy and confusing place at the best of times but, after three flights that day, I was particularly confused but managed to navigate to the relative quiet of the huge Emirates lounge near my departure gate to await boarding.
The Emirates flight from Dubai to Birmingham was on an four-engined Airbus A380. Although I loved the long-lasting Boeing 747 design (now retired from service by major airlines), I've never warmed to the even-bigger A380, although I can appreciate the technical achievement. Boarding involved a lift from the lounge to Departure level, then a short walk to the three air bridges connecting to the waiting aircraft. Waiting to board the lift, I took the picture below.
Boarding the A380 from Dubai to Birmingham in 2020. Note the three air bridges.
Although I love travelling, I always experience a thrill on returning home so, as we lost altitude approaching Birmingham and the familar landscape of England appeared on a dull, February morning, I started to become alert with excitement (and, perhaps, a little relief). We landed safely, I retrieved by luggage without incident and reported to Emirates, who were providing a car home. There was a minor delay waiting for the car, because flights at Birmingham had been subject to some dislocation that morning, but soon I was speeding back home after a fairly serious journey from Australia.
Within three weeks of my return, England had imposed a full lockdown in an attempt to delay the spread of the Coronavirus Pandemic. A three-month lockdown was followed by a plethora of frequently-changed regulations, culminating in a further full lockdown in November 2020 (when I finally managed to complete this post).
Related posts on this website
This post is in the series labelled 'Tropic of Capricorn’. The first post is here.
Clicking on the 'Next report' link (where shown) will display the post describing the next events. In this way, you may read about the trip in sequence.
Alternately, clicking on the 'All my Tropic of Capricorn reports' link displays all the posts on this trip in reverse date-of-posting order.
All my Tropic of Capricorn reports
My pictures
Cairns Airport, Australia
Singapore (Changi) Airport
Dubai Airport, U.A.E.
Birmingham Airport, England
