Stopover at the Airport Hotel in Hong Kong and on to Sydney

20.1.14 A day in bed...

After several movies and without any turbulence, the 777 lands in Hong Kong almost on time at around half past six local time after a flight of around 11 hours. Standing in the immigration queue and then I am already admitted to China for a day with a visa the size of a matchbox. I quickly check the baggage carousel and don't see my bag, so I rely on the fact that it will be checked through to Sydney.

The Regal Airport Hotel is connected to Terminal A by a glass corridor and after 200 m I am at the reception, get my key for the 12th floor and find a nice room with a view of the runway, water and mountains behind it.

Curtains closed and off to the horizontal. It's 8 a.m. in the morning and 1 a.m. in Germany. I sleep until 4 p.m. and after showering and brushing my teeth I feel really fit. I trot back to the terminal, stand in the immigration line again, which lets me out and so I have left China towards the gate at around 5.30 p.m.

The plane leaves almost on time and is packed. A young man sits next to me who fortunately sleeps almost the entire flight. I watch movies non-stop, a complete British crime series that I have already seen the first five episodes of between Frankfurt and Hong Kong, and I can't sleep. As we slowly approach Sydney, I realize that not only did I sit in the dark for 11 hours on the first flight, but also in the hotel and now - since it is a night flight between 7.00 p.m. in Hong Kong and 7.30 a.m. in Sydney - I have been sitting in the dark for practically two days. The sun is beautifully rising outside, but my seatmate wants to sleep and closes the blind after 3 minutes. No matter, I will have plenty of light in the coming weeks!