It wasn't intended, but it happened! I was on my way to Sunderland, UK, for the November, 2012 NEICN conference at the university, and before leaving home I had a formless premonition that something was not going to go according to plan. Sure enough, the journey was disrupted, but I can't say I wasn't looked after well in the long run.
I was flying Malaysian Airlines (loved the inflight beer and peanuts!), and the A380 (biggest airliner in the world) developed a fault that grounded it in Kuala Lumpur. (The header pic is a Qantas A380 on the ground in Singapore, on the 2011 trip, but it gives you an idea.) We were due to depart about mid-evening, but the time came and went. After midnight the airport staff handed out bottled drinks for the hundreds stranded in the departure lounge, but still no action—then they started to distribute a limited number of blankets because the air conditioning was so cold and apparently couldn't be adjusted (I didn't get one). All the while every child on the flight was rampaging at full scream because some lunatic had built an adventure playground in the departure lounge.
O-kay... Well, about 4am they announced the flight was not leaving the ground for quite some time, and gave folks the choice of being slotted into the next available flight or being put up at a hotel until the plane was fixed. By this time I was so tired I just wanted to put my head down, so joined the stopover queue. I was literally falling asleep on my feet and kept jerking awake before I could collapse—not an experience I'd want to repeat. I remember the airline handed out food vouchers and eating McDonald's at 5am—very little was open in the airport at that time and not everywhere took vouchers.
At last we were passed through customs/border control to actually enter Malaysia, and were taken by shuttle bus at high speed to the Marriott Hotel, where we got luxury treatment, all at the airline's expense. I got some sleep, emailed home with news, but had mislaid my contact details for the boarding house I was heading for at destination so couldn't let them know what was happening. The pics above are the view from the ninth floor of the Marriott.
Then there was a sumptuous free buffet lunch, and a bus back to the airport (yes, that's how the interior of the airport coach was decorated!).
The city is tropical but has almost the feel of Adelaide, looking across the Torrens. Palm trees everywhere reinforce the equatorial nature of the place, while the airport's futuristic architecture is always a delight.
That of course meant arriving in London a day late (obtusely, the weather was bright and clear approaching Blighty), and the airline picked up the tab for a night in the Heathrow Hilton—I was not complaining! I had to buy a new domestic connection north to Newcastle Airport, but my trip insurance covered the missed flight, so all was well in the end.
The detour was something of an adventure, and I got to see a few things I would not normally have—such as Kuala Lumpu Airport from the outside! The extensive palm plantations of the city suggested to me at the time that palm oil was a major export, certainly every spare inch of land seemed to sprout palm fronds. The view from the Marriott was of forested hills, and the equatorial climate was certainly pleasant at that time of year. I can say I've stayed in two five star hotels and it didn't cost me a penny—which may be the only time I ever do, oddly enough.
Above is the morning light in the Hilton's main entrance, and the sign says it all in the last.
The trip had a bumpy start but was a wonderful one thereafter, including travelling with the band I support in the south country, plus an extension of a week so I could get to Cardiff to see the 'Dr Who Experience,' and to RAF Museum Cosford, near Shifnal, in Shropshire, for the “Flights of Fantasy' pop culture event.
Sadly, this was my last proper trip to the UK, as the 2013 NEICN conference was cancelled, and the event never resumed, but I did go up for a few days in 2014 for a sci-fi convention in London.
Mike Adamson
