Brisbane-Singapore-Bangkok-Frankfurt-Basel with Qantas and Crossair, May 1993

After a seven week vacation in Australia it was now time to go home. In the last two weeks we had travelled from Cairns along the East coast down to Brisbane. We were out on the Great Barrier Reef and we enjoyed the nice Queensland beaches.

BNE-SIN

Airline: Qantas

Flight Nr.: QF051

Date: 25 May 1993

Equipment: Boeing 767-338/ER

Registration: unknown

Departure time: early afternoon (I think so)

Flight QF051 departed in the early afternoon from Brisbane International Airport. It was my first time to fly on a Boeing 767. This was and still is one of only two widebodied aircraft types I have flown on. I did not know this aircraft type before but I thought that this must have been a relatively new plane because everything in and outside of it still looked new. After a long time I could again board a plane over a jetway. The last time I had done that was when I boarded the plane on the way to SYD.

I liked the plane from the beginning and I still think that the Boeing 767 must be one of the most comfortable planes to fly on. The whole flight was very smooth and quiet and therefore time went by very quick. All in all it wasn`t like on the flight of life but I still recall it as one of the nicest flights I have ever been on. I was delighted when I saw all the volcanos in Indonesia and I was even more impressed when I saw all these Singapore Airlines planes sitting at their gates after touchdown in Changi.

Once landed it was getting dark very soon and we were waiting for our next flight, QF005 to BKK and FRA. When I saw that we were flying on a Jumbo again I was very happy. Somehow this plane has ever had something special for me since my first Jumbo flight a few weeks earlier.

SIN-BKK-FRA

Airline: Qantas

Flight Nr.: QF005

Date: 25/26 May 1993

Equipment: Boeing 747-438 �Longreach�

Registration: VH-OJJ

Departure time: late evening

Although this flight flight consisted of two legs, I still remember it as only one leg. The reason behind this is: I caught some deep sleep very soon after take-off. When we landed in BKK to get some more fuel and some more pax I did not realize that. So when we were somewhere over Poland or so I thought we still have to go to Bangkok and make an intermediate stop. My mum then told me that we had already done that and I just overslept it. So next stop was Frankfurt. Anyway I was a bit confused and although I had slept for a very long time I was still very tired. I don`t recall anything about the landing but I don`t think it was too hard but anyway, somehow that doesn`t matter. The only thing I still know is that we had to fly a hold that went almost to Basel, the airport we went to later this day with another flight and another airline.

FRA-BSL

Airline: Crossair

Flight Nr.: LX563

Date: 26 May 1993

Equipment: Saab/Fairchild 340B �CityLiner�

Registration: unknown

Departure time: early morning

It was my final flight for the next three years and it was again one of these nasty planes where a small boy cannot see anything out of the window. At least I saw that we were taxiing alongside the whole terminal and then turned left and right onto what must have been Runway 18. I was still very tired from the long flights from BNE to SIN and on to BKK and FRA,so do not recall very much of this flight.

The first person I saw after clearing customs for the last time was my grandfather who came to the airport to pick us up with our heavy bags. Somehow I found it nice to come home again and to tell all my friends what I had seen and heard in the last seven weeks. I was also very tired of the long journey. Although I thought I had slept enough I came home and fell on my bed�.