Day 1 Lucky Ducks are up in the air

The reason we're here . time to celebrate

The rendevous and wait

Things didn’t go exactly as planned—but really, who cares? There’s always something to do, whether it’s playing cards, diving into the world of AI (affectionately renamed “AL” by @Carolyn), or sneaking in a well-deserved snooze.

We all magically converged at the airport right on time—7 a.m. sharp—and joined the winding queue for check-in. We lucked out with the most patient and accommodating gentleman who handled our seat allocations with grace. It was no small feat, especially with everyone chatting non-stop and barely paying attention.

Honourable mention goes to @Julie, who took home the prize for the lightest luggage. @Cheryl insists her extra weight was entirely due to the vitamins—definitely not the surplus wardrobe changes.

The not-so-great news? A two-hour flight delay. But we made the best of it, as always. Thanks to @Denise sporting a tiara and birthday sash, our group was impossible to miss. The spontaneous cheering over the automatic card shuffler definitely added to the spectacle—and attracted even more curious onlookers.

Thank goodness there were 6 sets of eyes over the group - we hadn't even cleared security without some minor challenges - @Cheryl became separated from her jacket and @Von somehow left the money belt behind at security. Mind you, could have been worse, could easily have been her handbag with that special supply "GastroStop" - (details censored.)

With duty free securely packed away, breakfast under the belt and walks, talks, cards and multiple toilet stops all checked off, the 12.20 call to boarding was literally met with cheers. When you think about it, we could have been half way to China already!

The long haul

We had scored six seats together in the middle rows and it didn't take long before everyone was plugged in and settled into movie mode. Though in a few meals (they were great), a couple of wines, multiple trips to the toilet, a snippet of conversation, a light snooze and in my case, a little crafting ... and that 9 hours did disappear quickly.

It did seem as if every other person the flight was a TripADeal customer which made for interesting introductions in the toilet line. "Where are you headed," "What colour bus group are you," "Have you travelled with TripADeal before?" were all handy conversation starters as we continued to make connections. 

Funny thing is that we were consoling the two Rockhampton travellers who were a definitie for missing their connecting flight, reassuring them that the airline would take care of everything.

Naively, we were sitting smugly thinking we had a couple of hours up our sleeves. If only we had taken the time to check the boarding pass we would have realised that we too had missed our connecting flight. Shame we didn't have someone who could add and subtract time in the group - or even be committed enough to check the second boarding pass.

Thank goodness for networking. The husband and wife couple near us got us on the straight and narrow. @Denise and I thought we were helping the Rockhampton crew by asking the hostess, on their behalf, what happens if you land after the connecting flight has taken off. The hostie's response was "Ground Crew will help."

And that was when our neighbours pointed out we were in the same position- we were due to land 30 minutes after our boarding time.

Nothing to do really, other than settle back and let the people who were responsible for fixing it ... to fix it.

The only person who wasn't in a hurry was @Julie - as the plane touched down, she had fewer than 10 minutes left in the movie she was watching and was quite happy to coast along.

Little did she know the adventure ahead.

WARNING: Near naked woman in security

I need to back pedal a little. The hosties had given out green stickers to priority passengers- people who had connecting flights. It had to be 90% of the passengers. Once the seat belt lights were off, it was every man and woman for themselves and there was a hold up trying to exit.

 We were soon into the first dash and run along the corridors and passageways to go through processing - the gates were all open actually and all the green dot people poured through. All good so far. 

This was followed by the sorting room, where "foreigners" were peeled off for a customs check ... that's most of us. A bit of a line up, but just the usual photo, fingerprint and form stamping. No worries. We were through.

Bad news. The anxious (but helpful) staff informed us we had 10 minutes to get to the boarding gate ... which was on the other side of security checks and our location of B266 was 1.5 kms away.

Off we went .. a second sprint through to transfers which involved increasingly anxious staff trying to get us moving along through some dog leg twists and turns. Our group is now divided into three. @Carolyn and I as trail blazers, @Von in the middle watching us disappear and signalling the turns to the three behind.

Another check of your passport, boarding pass and customs pushed us through to terminal B, but you had to dump all your gear onto a scanner for a preliminary check.

No worries, we forged ahead and could now see the rest of the group were with us although a few candidates back in what @Von had now dubbed as an episode of The Amazing Race.

One more to go, but this was rhe serious full security check. Glasses, coats, money belts and jewellery off and into tubs. Anything electrical out. March through the arch and then hand wand. 

And never lose sight of the fact that we are only six of an endless stream of "mature" travellers sporting green dots, trying to make flights that theoretically they have already missed. 

Wow. We had everything beeping.

 @Carolyn got special wanding action. My backpack was emptied and rescanned. But we were through. Still four to go and we had long ago exhausted our 10 minutes and still had to traverse the 1.5 kms.

 @Carolyn was through first and definitely qualifed as "the foot soldier" and to take on the 1.5 km dash and was in character fully ladened with her backpack. The plane was still waiting at Gate B266 and she had to fight a language barrier to let them know there were 5 more coming. Now separated from the group and quite prepared to throw herself on the tarmac to hold the plane, she had no idea of the drama that was layer by layer unfolding behind her.

It was like a game of strip poker gone wrong. And to be honest we didnt know whether to laugh or cry. @Denise was through - after a deep dive into her carry on colkection, @Julie was still outaide the scanning gate and @Cheryl was in a re-run loop.

We couldn't believe our eyes. As each re-run through the scanner took place, @Cheryl was asked to remove another layer of clothing. There was no way @Denise was leaving her and with @Cheryl now down to her singlet the green dotted queue on the other side, which included @Julie and the couple from the plane had their own little live version of Border Security happening. 

@Von and I were using our collective charm on the ground staff and attempted to secure a buggy for the ride to the Gate. At one stage the ground staffers told us to "Hurry your friends along!' 

Um, we wish.

 A near naked @Cheryl had finally given up the last tissue out of her remaining clothing and was cleared and ran towards us flapping clothing as she tried to reassemble all her bits. It was like a flood gate opened and the crush of people waiting, including @Julie finally started to flow through.

All aboard the bugggie with our two other Chengdu passengers and the driver put the pedal to the metal. Poor @Carolyn had spent an agonising 15 minutes reassuring the staff we were on our way.

Can you image the noise of our group as we relived the retell and burst onto the plane as a wild cacophony of sound? These passengers, who had been delayed for an hour because of our flight were without doubt "not happy Jan."

Smooth ending to a long day

The two hours for the final leg just disappeared. A bit more food, a lot of turbulence and a cabin with dimmed lights meant everyone was drawing some zzzs. @Denise even managed to stretch out across a few unoccupied seats.

A little bus ride across the tarmac. All bags delivered to and collected from the carousel, a splashy squattie toilet stop and we were oout. Our little grooup if now 8 ( learnt their names are @Lyn and @Jason) were met by out waiting guide Leilah. Smilling, enthusiastic, organised and easy to understand. In fact such a breath of fresh air, she was the pickup we needed. Did a fabulous run down of the optional activities (we booked our spots) and because @Leila. had pre completed all checkin details for the group which it meant we could trundle our bags straight into our rooms.

We made it. We're in China.

@Leila (a Han and a member of the Communist party) reassured us that the streets even at this 1.30 am time were perfectly safe. There are so many CCTV cameras operational, that you can't even lose a cat in China. 

@Von and I took her at her word and went for a late night stroll to brush away some cobwebs. 

Have just glanced at the clock - local time is 3 am .... so have wished ourselves a Happy Mother's Day and had no intentions of waking early.