Hong Kong – The Last Leg of Our Seven Week Odyssey

 Read more from Kay here

Hong Kong

After an almost eleven hour flight from Amsterdam to Hong Kong, we were more than glad to reach our destination.

I must say our short three hour stop over at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam was really nice. We found it to be a well laid out airport with friendly, helpful people and great shopping. We also found time to have a lovely meal and enjoyed the local delicacies. (It was nice to have a break from pizza and pasta).

Our flight to Hong Kong was most uncomfortable, although the meals were quite nice. As I have a tender tummy I found it very hard to deal with passengers coughing and spitting on the aircraft. Spitting on the cabin floor in my opinion is nothing short of disgusting and unfortunately I did witness this.

Last Bit of Sightseeing

Hong Kong itself was hot and humid with the temperature sitting in the mid-thirties most days. The heat really put us off attempting too much sightseeing so we concentrated on taking our grandson, aged three, to Disneyland. I had heard this particular Disneyland was not as good as others but in my opinion it was perfect for younger children. It had all the excitement of the bigger Disneyland's, was well laid out, clean and held plenty of fun for a three year old.

The impressive fireworks display at nine pm was really something – I have honestly never seen anything like it or anything so beautiful, and I actually had tears running down my cheeks. It was really moving and some of the fireworks were synchronised to Disney soundtracks. All in all it was a special day and one we all thoroughly enjoyed.

On the other hand, trying to shop in famous Nathan Road was a bit of a nightmare with the heat, the busy streets and the hawkers just putting us right off. Perhaps having a small child in tow made us more wary, but there just seemed to be a lot of dodgy people hanging around, offering to show you watches and handbags 'out the back' of stores.

At the end of the day Hong Kong was only meant to be a four night stop over so we could take a short break before returning home, so we kept our expectations low.

In summary, we had a magical seven weeks holiday and memories I will treasure forever. Family time in Tokyo, the excitement of being in Rome again, the total feeling of relaxation and being quite at home in Lucca and the sheer magic of the Mediterranean in Santa Margherita – all will stay in my memory forever.

If any of you are planning a trip to Italy in particular and I can help with any questions please feel free to make contact. If you are planning a trip overseas in the near future, I hope you have a wonderful time, take lots of photos and don't over pack your suitcase before you leave.

Ciao.

By Kay Rayner