Growing Old in Style – Hong Kong Airport – CX The Arrival
Index:
- 40.. wait? You’re 40???
- Off to Heathrow with National Express
- Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 and British Airways Galleries First
- BA936 London Heathrow to Düsseldorf in Club Europe
- Düsseldorf airport and the most boring lounge… in the world (Lufthansa Business Lounge)
- CX376 Düsseldorf Airport to Hong Kong International Airport in Business Class
- Hong Kong International Airport and CX The Arrival
- To Hong Kong aboard the Airport Express
- Over to Kowloon on the Star Ferry
- Exploring Kowloon
- Holiday Inn Express, Sheung Wan
- The Peak during the Evening and Night
- Riding the Ding Dings and Causeway Bay Presents “The Force Awakens”
- Mong Konk Ladies Market – or the “Hard art of haggling”
- A Symphony of Lights (Pictorial)
- Temple Street Market or “Haggle more”
- Back to Hong Kong International Airport
- The Pier First Class Lounge
- CX253 Hong Kong International Airport to London Heathrow
- The Great Rush Home
- 40 up
With the long haul journey over, it was time to get going.
Well – get going to the lounge to freshen up, write a damning piece about useless the UK government is when it comes to expanding Heathrow, browse the net and charge the phone for a bit.
Schematics.
With a short walk off the plane, it was time to explore Hong Kong Airport and get into the territory.
That-away!
It was a reasonable walk to the transit area and to the transit shuttle.
Frankie goes to Holywood said Relax. Now HKIA says Relax!
A quick train ride to the central area, and it was time to head to the escalators
Once back up, you’re nearing the main immigration area.
As I still hold eChannel access for Hong Kong, I cleared immigration in a matter of minutes. Additionally – as I had no luggage other than the bag on me, I could clear the luggage carousal and custom channels
Woohoo! No stopping at the belt!
Santa toppers on the belt signs? Check.
And with that – I was out of the restricted area, and into Hong Kong International Airport public area.
There was stuff to be done before I went much further – namely, get a Visitors Octopus card. The normal Octopus card I get is an Airport Express Octopus.
Why? It gives me two Airport Express rides on it, as well as a 3 continuous days use of MTR Trains, Light Rail. In other words – very useful for a city break (Actually, it’s nearly 4 days depending when you first blip into the system).
On top of this, I topped up the Octopus with HK$50, which allows me to use the trams, buses and Star Ferry without worrying for digging for change to use.
With those formalities done, it was time to head to the arrivals lounge. It would serve as a useful base for a bit to reorganise… and a shower was welcome at this point.
Cathay Pacific – The Arrival
The Arrival is located in the lower ground part of Hong Kong Airport between T1 and T2 – underneath the MTR Airport Express station.
Access to this lounge is limited (those holding Business and First Tickets, as well as some Oneworld Elites – see here).
And I can see why it’s limited, because the facility is tiny.
From the back of the lounge to the front (it’s small).
Workbench.
Workstations (and the most convenient location of power plugs).
Seating Area
However, I needed a shower – and after short wait, I had a cubicle. The cubical itself was nicely appointed… if the taps were a bit leaky in the wash basin.
The shower
The leaky tap…
Personal care items.
Smellies.
The shower was pretty powerful – enough to blow the cobwebs away and waking me up for a day of exploration in Hong Kong.
With that done, the priority was to write an insulting post about the UK Government. This was done with the aid of coffee.
Because, not much works in the world of Economy Class and Beyond without coffee.
The lounge was set up for a breakfast spread, which I grazed on between editing and writing.
Pasties
Cereals, Yoghurt and Fruits.
Noodles and Bacon.
French Toast and Scrambled egg with mushroom
The food wasn’t great, but it was passable – which sums up this lounge. The other useful feature was there were bottles of water in grabbing distance, that would be useful whilst I’m heading into Hong Kong.
With the paperwork all done, and the rush hour over and done with – I headed up for the Airport Express and into Hong Kong
Overall: For an arrivals lounge, maybe Heathrow Terminal 5 spoilt me a bit. The lounge felt more of an afterthought than an actual arrivals lounge. The term “Room for improvement” is an appropriate term for this lounge in terms of size and facilities.
Next: Into Hong Kong
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Looks like they want you in, showered, and out into the city as quickly as possible. Considering how great their Departures lounges are, it can’t be happenstance that they just “forget” about the Arrivals lounge!