RTW TP Run in Jan 2026: Day 19 – Day at Hong Kong Airport

By Nige on February 5, 2026 at 4:00 pm
Type: Post
Story: Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026 Category: Travel
Tags: HKG | Hong Kong | Skycity

Unbelievably, the hotel assigned me the same room last night that I’d had on my previous stay. Considering the place has around 6,000 rooms (or something close to that), that’s one heck of a coincidence.
Perhaps they decided I liked it.

For a change, I didn’t need to rush off for an early flight. My flight to Sydney wasn’t due to leave until early evening.

I turned the light off at around 11:30pm and, although I briefly woke at about 2am, I didn’t properly wake until 6am. That counted as another good night’s sleep for me.

I spent the next hour doing some work, responding to emails, and updating my riveting blog.

So… what to do this morning?

I briefly considered heading into Hong Kong, but it felt like too much hassle. I also had a caffeine headache — i.e. I needed a Starbucks — and the nearest accessible one was at the airport.

So, at 8am, I caught the shuttle bus back to the airport and decided I’d spend most of the day there.

Checkout at the front desk was straightforward, but there was a mass of people waiting for the shuttle bus — and, as usual, no organised queue. This was yet another example of how not having large cases works massively in your favour.

I simply strolled up to where the queue should have started. After waiting about ten minutes for the coach to arrive, while everyone else was faffing about loading suitcases into the luggage hold, I swanned on and took my usual front-row seat.

Once the bus was deemed full, I could see several irate passengers still waiting outside the hotel with their cases.

Consider this a lesson from the Master.

Terminal 1 was very busy and security was chocker. The automated kiosks took an age to verify me, although to be fair, once through that stage, the security process itself moved passengers along quite quickly.

I wandered down to The Pier First Class Lounge, and they didn’t bat an eyelid at the fact that my flight wasn’t until early evening. I received the usual warm welcome and headed straight into the bar area.

Almost immediately, I headed back out again to collect my Starbucks. That sorted my lingering headache nicely. The lounge staff welcomed me back in with my drink, which was a nice touch.

Breakfast followed swiftly. I am really getting into sourdough toast with butter and jam — far more appealing than sitting down to a heavy, greasy breakfast.

During the morning, I spent time exploring the terminal. Terminal 1 is incredibly well thought out. There’s something for everyone: children’s areas, facilities for older passengers needing extra care, and even virtual reality games.

I was also struck by the variety of objets d’art dotted around the terminal. It genuinely makes it an interesting place to spend time.

My flight to Sydney would be the first of four back-to-back flights without a hotel stay — something I fully expected to be tiring.

That said, the seat configurations on the first three should support decent sleep: an A333 to Sydney, an A359 to Nadi and an A359 to Los Angeles.

The final flight to Dallas would be a relatively short three-hour hop on an A321.

Even eight hours before departure, my flight to Sydney was already showing as running about 20 minutes late. Thankfully, with a six-hour layover in Sydney, I wasn’t expecting that to cause any issues.

The delay was due to the inbound aircraft from Melbourne, which had been held up by around an hour.

Naturally, this meant I had to indulge in a bit of lunch from the lounge buffet. That included a very tasty quiche Lorraine and some crostini.

A little later, I may also have helped myself to some marble chocolate cake with cream and raspberries, along with several thin slices of apple pie. To be fair, if they cut them that thin, a bloke like me needs more than one.

I wasn’t entirely sure how long that would keep me going, but I was hoping it might see me through until dinner was served on the flight to Sydney.

Unfortunately, it didn’t. By around 5pm, I found myself sampling the tortilla chips and a small jar of homemade salsa.

One thing is absolutely certain about this place: if you spend the day here, you will not go hungry.

The staff must have wondered whether I’d bought a timeshare. They were excellent at looking after me — but eventually, I did actually have a flight to catch, so it was time to say goodbye.

Next up: My flight from Hong Kong (HKG) to Sydney (SYD) on Day 19 of my Round The World trip of a lifetime.

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Round the World Tier Point Run in Jan 2026