Hello and welcome.
This is the second leg of my Asia trip last year.
The first flight can be found here: MF812 AMS-XMN
I had just arrived from Amsterdam and was waiting in front of the airport for my check-in counters to open. About 2 hours before the actual departure I went back inside the airport and headed to the international departure hall which also handels flights to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Although I had just passed customs about 90 minutes ago when I had arrived, my poor bag got x-rayed again before I was allowed into the check-in area. I quickly found the line for the Hong Kong flight and lined up. Luckily I got a window seat.
After the super short stay in China I got my exit stamps into the passport and more stamps on the boarding pass. Very impressive bureaucracy.
I made my way to the gate and basically walked all the way back which I had walked a few hours earlier.
At the gates there was ample seating possibilities and I waited for my 737-800 to arrive.
Big excitement when I saw that it was the one in Sky Team livery that would operate my flight :D
Boarding began soon and I had to wonder what reasoning is behind Xiamen Air's seat numbering. Their economy cabin starts around row 30 and I just don't see any reason why they avoid lower numbers. At check-in, I even thought we might have a 787 for the short flight because row 49 on my boarding pass just didn't sound like a 737-800 at all.
Anyway, the 737 was fine.
The purple inside didn't exactly match the color scheme of Xiamen Air but I assume that will be changed to the blue design of the 787 sooner or later
Next to us was a China Airlines 737-800 which flew back to Taiwan where my journey would end eventually. Fortunately, all of my vacation was still ahead at this point.
Departure was pretty much on time and we soon were surrounded by a fog/cloud mixture.
Xiamen and Hong Kong are rather close to each other so the flight time was just about 1 hour. Despite the short flight time, there was a small service and again I was pleasantly surprised of this fairly unknown Chinese airline.
Everyone received this little bag, which contained a bottle of water, a banana, and a (as I learned later) steamed bun. Again, I was very happy with the food and at this point I was really wondering what this wrapped warm filled bun might be as it tasted very good.
Before the garbage was collected, we had already started the approach into HKG. I was very excited and hoped for a good view of the city although I excepted it to be cloudy which proofed to be true.
We landed and the first plane I saw was a blue KLM 744, which was the perfect ending of a journey that had started in Amsterdam the day before.
One last glimpse at my little Sky Team jet and ready to explore Hong Kong.
Hong Kong was absolutely amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay. Without a doubt it has become my favorite city.
Best wishes,
Thomas
