Introduction:
Well I was just doing my usual search on the net for cheap flights and saw that Air Asia X had a pretty good sale on flights throughout their network. I let my mate Josh know and we thought, why not! After a bit of planning we worked out when we would fly out and back. Since AAX don’t fly out of Brisbane we would fly out of the Gold Coast. We would fly from OOL-KUL on Sunday 25 May and KUL-OOL on Saturday 7 June.
Between then we would fly from KUL-HKG with Malaysian on May 26. Josh and I would then split up in HKG, I would fly China Airlines from HKG-KHH (Kaohsiung, Taiwan) on May 30. I would spend five nights in Kaohsiung with family who are currently living over there. Josh would fly from HKG-BKK-HKT with Thai Airways on May 31. He would spend 4 nights in Phuket. We would meet back up in KL on June 4. Josh flying HKT-KUL with Malaysian, while I would fly KHH-HKG-KUL with China Airlines and Cathay Pacific. Then finally on June 5 we would fly KUL-SIN-KUL with Air Asia.
I was very much looking forward to going to Asia for the first time! I will split this report into two parts.
Gold Coast Airport:
We stayed at a motel next to Coolangatta Airport the night before as it was an early departure from OOL and we both live in Brisbane. Sydney spotter Bernie who was up in Brisbane for the weekend also stayed the night in Coolangatta. He drove us to the terminal where we checked in and dropped off our bags. Once that was done he picked us back up and drove us to the Skate Park at the end of the runway at Coolangatta where we met up with local spotter Brock.
VH-EBK operating JQ12 from Tokyo-Narita
9M-XXD arrives from Kuala Lumpur as D7206! Our ride to KL!
After our plane arrived Bernie drove us back to the terminal. Thanks again for everything mate! We proceeded through security and customs which was quick and easy. We then just sat down at the gate and relaxed. Soon enough we were on our way out to the aircraft. I have flown on a few A330-200s but this would actually be my first flight on an A330-300! I would fly on four of them on this trip.
May 25, 2014
Air Asia X
D7207
OOL-KUL
9M-XXD A333
Seat 17K
STD/ATD: 0840/0850
STA/ATA: 1510/1522
Flight Time: 8 hours 32 minutes
On our way out to the aircraft…
Boarding
Boarding was quick and easy. It was not a full flight. We were seated in the second economy section which had quite a light load. Not sure about the first section but the third looked packed! I was in Seat 17K while Josh was in 18K. We were both lucky enough to have the two seats next to us un-occupied! We pushed back right on time and made the quick taxi out to RWY14. As we taxied out I could see Bernie and Brock along the fence line photographing our departure.
The morning rush at OOL
Lining up on RWY14
Up we go!
Passing Cobaki Broadwater
Now over Northern New South Wales
Heading towards the coast
Great view of the beach!
Kingscliff
