Well after 10 hours 55 minutes we arrived Cape Town at 6.20am. Many Argentinians on the flight judging by all the Spanish around us.
I don't get worried much when flying but the departure out of KL was something else. I felt that we were quickly running out of runway as we were rolling along for what seemed like "too long". I put it down to all the passengers carry on luggage. How do airlines really know what the takeoff weight is if they don't weigh carry on and add this to the takeoff weight of the aircraft? We still
seemed to be going very slow when the nose of the aircraft was raised ever so slightly. It seemed far too long to me before we gained lift off speed and this was made more worrying by seeing the visual display saying the aircraft remained at 20 feet altitude for "far too long". Once airborne we were still at 5000ft at 30 miles! Quite alarming really. Sure, a full aircraft, long flight and "unknown carry on baggage weight?". I can't wait for the departure out of Cape Town!!
Meal after take-off at a1.20am, another chicken dish. Just wanted to get some sleep. Slept on and off until about 7.30am, body clock still on Perth time. Tried to do leg exercises and walked around a fair bit.
Woke to find us over Mauritius and Reunion islands. Lots of lights (1.30am) local time. Both islands much bigger than I imagined.
Dozed off and on again until woken with cabin lights on and breakfast at 6am - now on South African time. Nice b/fast - omelette, sausage youghart, nut bar, orange juice and fruit.
Arrived Cape Town at 6.20am - photo is of our aircraft B747 parked at the Cape Town terminal. 2 hour turn around. Time for a walk around, coffee - spend some Rand and then try to lie outstretched to give the legs a break. See the photo on the next blog!