In this post, i will talk about my journey out of SG and the return.
This is the start of my trip which i have been planning for a long time. I have been procrastinating for about 2-3 years and planning for about 4-5 months.
Backtrack a couple of months…….
Initially i got many comments saying i am crazy or am i mad to travel for 1 month plus to some places. Will it be boring? Will i get lost? What happens if this and that… Oh gosh.. why are so so many people just so negative? I don’t understand.
On the flip side i got people who were so supportive and said that i should do it! Do it now or never. I guess for me it would be…. Do it now & again!!
So now the main part to convince everyone is to BOOK THE FLIGHT TICKET OUT OF SG! Yes, i did that and choose Etihad as my airline of choice. The first flight was to London which was my base as i had accommodation at a relative’s place and a friend’s place. Yeah i had 2 bases indeed!
I have been told by some friends to take Turkish Airlines, Emirates or Singapore Airlines instead of Etihad. Now i will explain reasons why i chose Etihad. Firstly, i had been flying it a decent amount of time and had a build up of points.
Don’t we all want to accumulate points which we could offset against a flight ticket? As i have flown Etihad a couple of times, the level of service is just amazing. Having connectivity on board is rather important to me and during my trip, Etihad was the best value for money as it was a fixed price for unlimited data (Fair Use Policy applies) which was quite stable. During trips to London, i love that Etihad has a stop over at Abu Dhabi which is just nice (about 2-3 hours) which gives just enough time to walk around a little, have a coffee or a beer.
Don’t we all want to accumulate points which we could offset against a flight ticket? As i have flown Etihad a couple of times, the level of service is just amazing. Having connectivity on board is rather important to me and during my trip, Etihad was the best value for money as it was a fixed price for unlimited data (Fair Use Policy applies) which was quite stable. During trips to London, i love that Etihad has a stop over at Abu Dhabi which is just nice (about 2-3 hours) which gives just enough time to walk around a little, have a coffee or a beer.
7 hours later………….. I have reached London!!! Woohoo!! It was Sunny and cool (in comparison to Singapore). First thing i did was to purchase a SIM card with data and then head for a coffee before heading to my accommodation via Tube which was near Liverpool Street in Central London (Zone 1).
Now, this is the downside of any journey. It is the return back home.. Oh Noooo!!!! Must i really return?? Oh well unless i have a deep pocket or a couple of gold bars handy perhaps i could extend my trip.
It was the return of my trip and had some issues with luggage at Heathrow airport. After addressing it which took close to an hour, i went through the security clearance and waited at the gate. By this time i was just exhausted and wanted a shut eye moment. Fortunately, i managed to catch about 3-4 hours on the first leg of the flight. After the routine stopover, i tried to get into the premium lounge which i get into most of the time. But was denied this time i guess due to overcrowding and limited to only Gold pass members. Well, that was fine – i headed to a cafe and chilled out for a nice cuppa coffee.
It was time to board the plane and as they were scanning my boarding pass there was an error like a beep. I was like oh no… what is the problem. Just as i was going to ask, the person said that my seat was changed and i dredded as i didn’t want to hear babies crying. To my surprise, it was the 4th row and that’s business!! Woohoo!!! That was awesome. It was so comfortable and with good enough space to stretch out my legs for a sleep.
When i arrived at my seat i was surprised of the size of it. It seemed like i would have had a good rest for the final leg! When i sat in the seat, it was very comfortable indeed! It had a good space to stretch out my legs and could lie almost flat. Yeah, i had a mini personal tv as expected.
Just after take off, it was meal service time. I did have a craving for a nice glass of whisky. It started with my favourite Glenlivet. Oh, that was the perfect way to start my journey back home. It started with some appetisers which then followed by the main course. Everything was so good which is what you call attention to detail.
Oh and yes… how could i forget the dessert which was a serving of a chocolate ice cream. This was the perfect ending to a meal.
As i was quite tired, it was time to catch up on sleep. Oh! I had a good sleep indeed and the next when i woke up was about an hour to land. This was also the snack time. I would not classify this as a snack but oh well lets call it a big snack shall we? ;p
It was a sandwich and this time, i selected it with a glass of champagne.
That’s all for now folks… stay tuned for more updates…