a girl with wanderlust: We got here - an amazing feat in itself

28/12/06 & 29/12/06

Travelling, travelling, travelling. With queues thrown in for good measure. Left Perth at 4am (Mum is an early bird!) to head for Glasgow airport where I was meeting Zain, and his parents, as they were flying out to Spain the same day. Meeting Zain, without our lifeblood of mobile phones to triangulate our positions, went well, even although I was convinced that one of us would be really late and throw the whole thing into disaster, but crisis was averted. We then joined the queue (number one of the day!) which didn’t move, and then it didn’t move, and then. it. didn’t. move. Dagnamit. Zain and his dad then had the bright idea of moving us up the queue by doing an online check in thing which worked pretty much, as we got to join a smaller queue (2) which also didn’t seem to go anywhere. When we finally got to the check in desk there was only about 30 minutes to go before we had to get on the plane! And the reason for these delays - new check in system of course! Oh the joys!

So due to the delays, there wasn’t much time for sad farewells, so we said goodbye and then headed through the tunnel to go through security. I did have a wee cry then though – I admit it! Got through security ok, and went to the business lounge (Zain has a silver travel card thingy so in theory we were like flying royalty!) had a cheeky wee free drink and got to soak up the luxury of not going cattle class and then headed onto the plane – business class baby!

Arrived at London Heathrow, which I was dreading as it is most definitely my least favourite airport in the world! (what a jet setter to be able to say things like that!). Got our bags which is always a good start, even although they took ages to come out and we headed off to our next terminal, hence more queuing. Zain thought the flight was due to leave at 12 noon, turned out it was at 11am – yikes. Queuing, queuing, queuing. Got checked in finally and made our way through to the security checks for a leisurely walk to the gate. Think again peeps!

Once we got upstairs, we were confused to see a very long queue – what could that be I wonder? We were then ushered to join the queue to have our bags checked for liquids and other naughty things. The queue was a mile long, I kid you not, no really, really. So by this time I was somewhat stressed shall we say. Then one of the helpful staff began calling for people who were on a 11 o’clock flight, bear in mind that the time is now 10.15am and we are going no-where in this queue (3). So I was like, lady we are with you! Ensue more chaos and people all over the place trying to jump the queue etc…When we got past that madness, we had to go through security – twice. Oh hello, take off all your coats, belts etc and empty your pockets…great so you’ve done that, you are home free. No. Now queue up again and…guess what…take off your shoes. Now there’s a good kiddie. So once we have completed that it’s 10.40am, quick check of the gate we need to get to – 36, how long does it take to walk to gate 36, 20 minutes. What time does the flight leave, 11am? Are we going to make it? It’s touch and go. So rush, rush, rush, no time for any duty free shopping – bugger!

So as you may be able to tell, we made it to the gate and onto the plane, but it is the latest I have ever been for a flight. Seriously we made it by about 2 minutes. And, relax.

Flight was ok. 13 hours. Watched 3 films in the luxury of a decent enough reclining seat and had some reasonable food too. What more can you ask for on a flight as long as that except for first class seats?

Arrived at local time – 7.30am. Zain and I were both exhausted, but glad to be in Singapore in one piece with our luggage. Before we left, I had organised a snazzy car pick up for us which was a relief as we were both too tired to think. Car was lovely as it had air-conditioning (a must in this neck of the woods). Hotel is really gorgeous too, very plush.

Got up to the room, showered, changed and then headed out. We have to beat the jet lag by staying awake, which I did really badly. We decided to go on a bus tour of the city so that we could get a feel for the place and kind of get our barings. But I was so confused about everything, than in all honesty we could have been anywhere, doing anything. I didn’t last long. Went to bed at 3pm and slept for 18 hours. A damn good sleep and managed to get on top of the jet lag. A good day in all. Welcome to Singapore.

a girl with wanderlust

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

We got here - an amazing feat in itself

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