Flying to Hong Kong 1966 Style
David C. Hamilton
1966
The day we left Glasgow for Hong Kong in February 1966 is forever etched in my memory. Picture myself at thirty one never been out of the country apart from our honey moon in Jersey. Anne; six months pregnant with our daughter Lesley Anne, our son Colin a babe in arms and our eldest a toddler of two and a half years. My friend Bryce Morrison had taken us to Renfrew Airport to catch the red eye special to London Heathrow where we would board the BOAC flight to Hong Kong. Our fellow passengers were mainly businesses men; so a family like ourselves was unusual.
When we checked in suitcases I was told it would cost us fifty pounds in excess baggage charges. This I could not believe as we had received all our documentation from the Crown Agents some time before giving details of baggage allowance. I had most careful to make sure our accompanying baggage did not exceed our allowance; weighing everything on our bathroom scales the previous night. However the clerk informed me that our allowance was from London not our point of origin, Glasgow. As we did not have the money available to pay this charge urgent action was required. This rerquired me to open up my suitcase in full of all the bemused businessmen in the queue, selecting all my essential wear; underpants, socks, hankies and suchlike. All those items I stuffed into every available pocket I had; ending up looking like the Michelin Man. Bryce arranged for this suitcase to be sent by sea to Hong Kong.
Some years later I met one of our fellow passengers on that flight. He said it was the funniest thing he had ever seen on those flights and could not wait to get home to tell his wife about it.
Our flight from Heathrow to Hong Kong by BOAC Boeing 707 jet took almost twenty four hours; stopping at Frankfort, Rome, Karachi, Calcutta, Bangkok and finally Hong Kong. I saw the sun rise over India as we flew over the mouth of the Ganges, a truly magical experience for me, my introduction to the mysterious East. Pauline had a wonderful time, running up and down the aisle being fussed over by Chinese waiters returning home for Chinese New Year. They plied her with sweets and fruit, we realised then how fond the Chinese were of children. Colin spent most of the time asleep in the bulkhead cot while Lesley anne had the most comfortable trip of all. Anne had the most uncomfortable trip of all as you can imagine, the toilet facilities in the various transit lounges became worse the further East we travelled.
Eventually we landed at Kai Tak and were met by my boss Harold Miller and his wife Thelma who conveyed us to the Hotel Merlin in Kowloon. There ended the longest day in my life and was the start of ten of the most exciting, fulfilling and interesting years of my life. A period I would not have missed for anything.
