I woke up at 4am, dismayed to discover that the devastation still surrounded me and packing had not started! Thank god I woke up then because it took a full two hours, and luggage had to be ready for collection by 6. What a nightmare.

A few final farewells around the ship; for many of the crew, they will see me back on Le Soleal in late July when she sails Broome to Fremantle via Ningaloo and other reefs for us to snorkel. 

The Captain was on hand to farewell me. Keep learning French, Madame! It was bucketing down, our first real rain, but we were helped off the ship by attentive marine crew and stayed dry. But I was happy with our decision to head straight to Hong Kong and visit Lisa (that is, good Lisa not naughty Lisa!). We had decided to not pay the exorbitant cost for Ponant to arrange our transfer to the airport, figured we could wing it and unusually we didn’t even prebook a taxi. There was never time! USD80 as opposed to €330, now that’s a lot of play money usefully redirected.

Everything in the port terminal, even the escalators, was immaculately clean, but Wingwoman made me use hand sanitiser after the fingerprint scanner - she always has my back. After Covid I hate the stuff. I am old school and prefer soap and water but she just nags and nags and wears me down.

While our bags were being loaded, I noticed Sharon the taxi controller taking my photograph. What! No media, young lady. But I had my captain cap on as it was very windy and would protect my hair… she couldn’t resist.

Heard back from DFAT (government department) who reassured me my passport is rock solid and unable to be used by the scammers, but directing me to liaise with the identity theft authorities. Sigh. 

The taxi ride to Taipei airport took 70 minutes, and Jennie and I talked the entire way despite having been together for nearly two weeks! She continues to boss me around - where is the proper British princess I met in Greenland? “What’s the weather in Hong Kong this week? What are we doing when we get there? How will we get to Lisa’s? What will we see?” It never ends…

Our check-in luggage totalled more than 60kg but we still had a large amount of carry-on…rather like Madame Commodore, she carries on a lot! I would love to learn to travel light but can’t see it happening. 

It’s our first time on Cathay, and we are excited. We seem to be the only white people in the terminal - seriously. There was much hilarity with security, so much friendlier than Australian airport security.

Qantas frequent flyers know that the Cathay lounge at T3 LHR is the best one to visit, it is far superior to the others, although Emirates is good too (but will we ever get to fly on Emirates again?). The lounge here was excellent, unfortunately the noodle bar hadn’t opened yet, but I will definitely be visiting their lounge when I fly home from Hong Kong in a few days. It is their hub after all.

We were not the only white people in lounge, just! We met Sylvie and Alain from Paris via Soleal and while we hadn’t chatted on the cruise, I grabbed a quick few minutes as Alain was teasing me about my piano performance. It was a fun encounter, but all too much for worry wart Jennie who has to be at the gate early. I tried to calm her - we had plenty of time, in the end I sent her ahead and told her I’d catch her up. When I arrived she was nowhere to be seen and was already on board tucking into her first glass of champagne. Some wing woman!

Our Taiwan experience ended in tears on the plane as I caught up on news before takeoff and had to explain to Jennie about Professor Richard Scolyer and what he meant to all of Australia. Rest in peace, Rich!