Chaotic start to trip

For once I didn't try to deliver 50 cases of wine the day of an international departure. I did go to the warehouse and the cellar, but I was home on schedule, packed and into a taxi on time so we arrived at the airport 2hrs before the flight. What a miracle.

I then proceeded to spend every spare second on the phone, up until the plane started down the runway! I booked a truck to pick up two new pallets of Clos Marguerite Sauvignon Blanc that had just landed in the country, and I attended to a couple of simple matters. But I wasted ages on the phone (and on hold) trying to get some sense out of Telstra. I am distraught that I switched carriers to someone that appears even worse than 3. Philippine call centres have no idea ... can't get a phone number ported five days after we got two numbers connected instantly. Of course that was going to be the number my mobile would be diverted to ...

Flew Virgin Atlantic to Hong Kong (beware, they weighed our carry-on luggage and have a 6kg limit), which was fine. The seating was a 2-4-2 configuration, and even though the plane was fairly empty we stayed in our window-aisle combo. I think I watched one movie and did a bunch of work on the laptop. Carlsberg was the beer on offer but the wine looked awful.

In Hong Kong we found the very crowded Cathay business lounge and had a snack and recharged laptop batteries. Couldn't get a shower, which was a drag. We had some cheap business class seats on Swiss for the next sector to Zurich, and enjoyed the lay-flat seats and ample food and drink. Had a couple of glasses of lovely 07 Rioja. Slept a bit, clear immigration without a word, then somehow took a wrong turn looking for the business lounge, got processed as leaving the EU, then walked down the corridor and entered again past the same bemused border control cop! Three stamps in the passport in five minutes!

A quick flight to Paris (long enough for breakfast), collected our bags and rental car (Peugeot 3008) and then set off for Chablis.