WHERE IS THAT Part 4
We arrive at Kuala Lumpur airport, it is midnight. Our flight is at 2-15am, it’s the equivalent flight we were due to take but not for another two weeks! We had booked our flights through the tour company, thank goodness, as it would have been so difficult to secure flights ourselves in this crazy situation. We were on Qatar airlines, business class originally, through Doha and then on to Philadelphia. Another tour member was really annoyed that she might have to fly economy instead. I just said to her I did not care, I just wanted to get home, she still grumbled. We were so lucky to get flights, they were business class. The flight attendants were wonderful. We flew to Doha, which had been so busy just a week before, it was quiet. But hey, the stores were open there. We could have had tea in Harrods, but we didn’t. We just took pictures standing next to the giant teddy bear outside, sent them to the grandchildren and reassured our children we were on our way.
We flew from Doha to Boston, this plane was full. We felt a little safer in our big business class compartments with the little screen door we could close off the isle. I’ve never slept so well on a plane on that 14 hour leg.
At Boston, we got through Global Entry very quickly, stood in a short line to answer questions for the Immigration officer. He only seemed concerned as to whether we had been to China or Europe. We were on our way, no temperature checks, no suggestions that we should quarantine.
We have been to Boston twice, first by road and second by train. We’ve never been to Logan airport before. It’s almost deserted and we walk for what seems like a couple of miles to the Gate for our next flight. It’s a big plane but there are only about thirty people on it. They sit us in the first row in first class. What a time to find yourself in first class.
We collect our bags in the fastest time ever and head down out where our driver is waiting, we get home in record time, it’s about 9pm at night. The first thing I do is see all the hundreds of daffodils in my front yard, different varieties that I have planted over the years and some brand new ones I scrambled to plant just before we went to China in October. They never looked so beautifully.
We are slowly getting used to lockdown in our homes that have been imposed by the governor of PA, our little county is the hotspot In the whole of PA. It barely seems a hardship compared to being in a foreign land. We are still recovering from jetlag, it’s taking longer than usual. We are taking walks and yesterday I did some gardening. Something I love to do. We have seen our children via FaceTime and yesterday we arranged for our grandson to read his book to us. My daughter in law had sent us a wonderful video of our other two grandchildren having an at home science lesson making slime putty.
We have been so lucky. We think of all those people who are truly suffering with the virus and have lost loved ones.
We don’t regret going to Borneo, at least we had a taste of what it is like there, if not we would forever wonder. It’s unlikely we will get to visit again, the tour company only goes there once a year and at this time it’s not totally clear the company will survive this Covid 19 crisis.
Keep well out there everyone and maybe we will meet on a future tour.
Comments
What an adventure! Being home must feel very comforting. My wife and I are scheduled for the Classic Italy, small group tour in October. We arrive in Italy a couple of days early and have the Scavi Tour at the Vatican and the tour to Capri booked. Hope Italy is up and running by that time. It is hard to imagine what they are enduring. We live in nearby Havertown.
What a great read and what an adventure. Happy to hear you are back home safe and sound. Thank you for posting your adventures. It is so nice to be able to read some interesting stories that is not solely about the Corona Virus.
Another wonderful story to tell friends and grandchildren!
Other than it was a long story, if any of you are wondering, there is a related reason why British might have posted it in four parts (she may or may not know this), but there is a character limit on the length of a post text. I ran into that once.
In addition to separating a story into multiple parts, you can also compose it as a single document in MSWord and attach the file to your post. To attach a file, click on the dog-eared black page icon in the tool bar, select browse, select the directory where you saved the MSWord document, and click on it to attach it.
Not a Tauck tour.