Catching your flight can be a trick

People that fly complain about how much time it takes to get to and clear security at the airport.

Just getting to the airport can be just as difficult.

I was staying at the Mandarin Hotel, which is located on Hong Kong Island.

I had a fairly near flight departure and asked the guy at the desk to call a taxi for me.

He explained that there were no taxis at that time, but the bicycle taxi people gathered at dawn at a location nearby, he said. Maybe I could get one there.

You would think that one of the world’s prime hotels would have a better handle on things. It took $42 million to build the hotel and $66 million to decorate it. 

I followed his instructions and found a number of bicycle taxi peddlers gathered around a fire.

I called out and asked who could get me to the airport in time for my flight.

I offered a generous fare and had a lot of takers.

Their form of a taxi was a bicycle with a scoop seat in front. I had been on a number of these before.

I paid half up front and piled on. The first thing he said was that the Star Ferry didn’t start this early, and that we might have to wait there for a few minutes.

He peddled fast and we got to the ferry landing just as the ferry was loading. I started feeling better about catching my flight.

The boat ride is only about 10 minutes, and as soon as we landed I was in the scoop and ready to go.

Now the Kai Tak airport was still some distance away. Built in 1925 it was replaced in 1998 by a new airport a greater distance out of town.

Kai Tak had a reputation as one of the scariest airports in the world. It was said that pilots had to come in so low that they delayed lowering their wheels as long as they could so they wouldn’t snag a clothesline. Flights would barely clear the many hig-rise apartment buildings. As if this wasn’t enough of a pilot’s skills the runway ran out into the sea. It was a quick drop and jam on the brakes.

Well, we made it. Not much traffic that early in the morning. The high fare was truly worth the money. They were calling the flight when I got to my Pan Am location.

Early on, Pan American Airlines had the major business to the east, but when other airlines were granted routes there  it was the end of Pan Am. 

I clearly understand the frustration airline passengers have with flying today.