Palm Beach 4221
Well, let me just say that Air Asia X carries the dubious honour of having the most uncomfortable aircraft cabins ever designed (and I believe they are a special, customised design). Not only did they squeeze in an extra seat in every row, making each seat that much narrower, they have also managed to come up with a truly insane seat design that doesn’t actually recline! They claim it does, but in fact it simply slides you forward thus cutting your already insufficient leg room in half. Suffice to say that next time I will be happily spending the extra few hundred dollars to fly in a plane that I can actually sit down in for a prolonged period without causing myself permanent injury.
Anyway, despite that, it was great to be finally back in the magical land of oz. Coolangatta airport (aka Gold Coast airport) is still a pretty small affair and the passport control and customs operations were a little bit toy-town-esque, but I finally managed to convince the customs official with the broad northern english accent that I was legitimate and headed out into the sunshine to meet my mate Guy for the first time in about 12 years.
I spent a lovely day with Guy and Nicolle and their gorgeous 18 month old blonde & blue-eyed bombshell, Josie, topped off by a swim and a bbq at the hotel that Guy’s folks were staying at. It was great to catch up with Guy & Nicolle after so much time and it was a genuine pleasure to meet Josie. All in, a very pleasant first day back in the country.