If you had of told me a week ago that I would be picking up my World Odyssey again for a further 4 months I wouldn’t have believed it. But that is exactly where I find myself today as I got out of bed and completed the last of my packing as I embark on a further 107 days to places I have not been and meet more people and hopefully make some more life-long friends. I really think that is the highlight of any trip, meeting people and knowing that you have a new friend I love that part of my travels and I hope that the luck I have had with all my trips continues. I have packed too many clothes, I do know this but as clothes can be difficult to find in my size and I don’t have to find room for anything else I’ll take what I can fit into my pack and if I have to I can cull stuff as needed on my travels. Beside the clothes I really don’t have a lot of ‘travel’ crap like I started out with last year. I know what I need and what I use so it really wasn’t such a big deal getting all my stuff packed. It was just a mission on finding a new home for all my stuff, but this will all just come with time as well and like anything new it just takes some getting used to it. I was also not going to take my sneakers but after reading the trip notes of both my Intrepid tours there looks like there are a few ‘hikes’ and walking involved so at the last minute they survived the cull and they were packed along with 2 boxes of BBQ Shapes as Paps and Em (my British friends) tasted my stash last year and loved them, so I have also made room for them in my bags.
I was going to walk my God-daughters to school this morning with Shane, but when I thought about it I think it was better that I said my goodbyes at home so if it did get all emotional that we weren’t at school leaving sobbing children when Shane had to get to work and I would have to leave the girls at school. As it was we were all running a little late, so it was a mad dash for the girls and a flurry of goodbyes and school bags and I think this was probably the best thing to have happened. As the girls were walking down the stairs I couldn’t even say goodbye as I would have just burst out into tears which is exactly what I did after I heard the door close downstairs. Shelly gave me a big hug and we just said 46 days to go….. Which is when I will be seeing them all again in Phuket in September. I think it won’t hit the girls till they come home from school this afternoon and then they realize that I have actually gone. Sorry to Shelly and Shane to leave them with the fallout of my departure. I am going to miss those two smiling little faces, their laughter, their banter, their vision and how they perceive the world through a five and seven year olds eyes.
I had a few things to get from the shops this morning. My flight wasn’t till 1.40pm, so I had some time in the morning to get this all done. I re-checked my departure time and this is when I noticed that I was going to be on the A380 from Singapore to London. After all the flights I had been on this was one plane that I was still to get onto, so that was a nice surprise that I was finally going to fly on this magnificent plane. I also had to refuel the car as this had to be returned back to the depot this morning on the way to the airport. The main purchase was to get some Sudafed as I have been battling a cold and a horrific cough for the last few weeks and I was really congested in the nose. I just hope that I wasn’t going to have any problems flying with a blocked nose as it can also affect your ears and that is just not an enjoyable ride at all. I have decided to not take any drugs with me this trip as it can all be purchased on-route. No matter where you are in the world there is always a pharmacy around or people on your trip that has all the drugs and would tide you over till you got to a chemist. When I get to London I will get some Imodium (diarrhea medication) and when I get to Ethiopia I will get Zeme to get me some Malaria tablets as they are only 2.50AUD for a 10 week course. The medication may not be up to Western standards but I am sure that it will do the trick as I will probably need them in Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Besides nearly getting taken out by a garbage truck as I entered the rental car place, the car was returned and checked with no problems and Shelly and I were on our way to the airport. I was lucky Shelly had taken half the morning off to drop me at the airport and when I suggested that she just drop and drive, this was slapped down in disgust as we parked. There was no-one at check-in so I was straight up to the check-in counter and I had all my finger and toes crossed that my new bag would not exceed 23kg. I always knew with my old bag, when it was choked to the max that it would not weigh more than 23.8kg but I had no idea on what capacity my new bag weighed and it was pretty chockers. So I was pleasantly surprised when my bag went on the scales it was 23kg, so this is good to know that I can also stuff the new backpack and it’s not going to weigh more than that. I think people forget about that when the buy new backpacks, besides the bigger they are the more cumbersome they are but it means more weight and then you have the extra stress when you airline travel of excess baggage which is an expensive lesson to learn. With my window seats confirmed and both my boarding passes through to London Shelly and I decided to have a drink and for old times’ sake Red Rooster chips and a small gravy to boot for a mid-morning schnack as we put off as long as we could our final goodbye. I am not a crier in public but as I hugged my best friend goodbye for the final time we were both crying and it was a hug I won’t forget in a long time. As I have mentioned I do see them all again at the end of next month which takes a little of the sadness out of the parting but heck it is so emotional saying goodbye to the people who you love and mean a lot to you.
Security wasn’t too bad, I went off through the scanner (Ethiopian bangles) and had to get the thorough pat down and then my backpack had to be rescanned and then went it came back out the second time they had to take some things out of the bag and rescan it again for the third time as it was too dense for the machine to make out anything. So once it came out again I got the all clear, to repack the bag that was bursting at the seams anyway to then turn to leave and I was asked for an explosive test. Dang, do I look like trouble today? With Darwin still fresh in my mind of the positive test I was hoping that I wouldn’t have any issues at an international airport. Well I had nothing to fear as I was a negative and I was finally on my way through to customs. I always ask for a stamp when I leave Australia and as he was processing my passport it took a few times for it to actually work as he kept inserting it and then re-inserting it back into the machine. I then saw him push a button on the bench and I didn’t think anything of it until another customs guy came over and took me and my passport through where I was told to wait on the white tiles as my passport was checked. It was a little nerve wracking as the only thing I can think of was they think my passport is a fake. Well I didn’t have to wait too long when I was handed back my passport and given the all clear. So I am not sure what was checked or the reason behind the additional check but as long as I was free to go then I really didn’t care.
I didn’t have any British Pounds for when I arrived into London and I also wanted to top up my USD purse as well so I visited the Travelex office in the departure lounge and got some money converted. I wouldn’t recommend you do it that way and it’s not so much with the crappy rate that they give you when you are changing small amounts but the 12AUD fee PER transaction that they charge you is a little steep I think. I also asked the lady about the fees on the new MasterCard as I still think that the 5.95% that we are charged is a little steep but she couldn’t really give me a definitive answer so I am just going to stick to the card I have been using the whole odyssey and use the others as backups. I also didn’t have any Australian souvenirs. I had a lot of stickers and pins left over from my last trip but I had packed them away and couldn’t find them so I bought a new pack of stick pins to use as gifts. I find that people like them and they don’t take up too much room in my bag. I know I paid a premium for them at the airport but that is just too bad as it is better than having nothing at all and I will probably be more inclined to give them out as I know how much I paid for them on EBay last year v’s at the airport today.
By the time I had all that done I had to really make my way to my gate and 45 minutes later they we making the boarding calls for the flight. My seat row was called first so once I was strapped in; I had to play that dang waiting game on if the seat next to me was going to be free or not. The aircraft was a 747-300 with a seating configuration of 3x4x3. It looked like it was a new aircraft, it even smelt new. The in-seat TV’s are massive and all touch screen. People bag Qantas sometimes, but I’m telling you they really do have a good product, no matter what you may think of them. I was sitting in 53K and a lady came and sat on the aisle in 53H as we then both waited for the magical announcement that the planes doors had now been shut, which came 30 minutes later and we were able to spread out a little with the empty seat between us. I LOVE LOVE it when I have a spare seat next to me, especially on the long haul flights and I do believe I need to welcome back my travel god and send a hearty thank-you for this small break on a 7 hour flight over 6150km. As it was a day flight I settled in and watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, wrote in my journal that starts again on day 454, played solitaire on my IPad, read some of my Kindle which I am still trying to get used to and I also slipped in a small kip for 45 minutes. Now that is how you fill up time on a long haul flight. Before I knew it we were preparing for our landing into Singapore. It was approaching 7pm and the sun was just starting to set and it was just beautiful flying in over the Asian jungle with the sun hitting my face as the last rays of my first travel day back on the road hit my face. I also got some great sunset pictures after we had arrived on the ground.
I have been through Singapore Changi Airport many times but in the next 4 months I will be passing through here 9 times. It’s a lot and I am guessing that I will get to know the airport well as I wait for my connecting flights here. It was cost effective to make Singapore my travel hub with all my inter-Asia travel hence all the transits I am going to have through here and decided that each time I pass through I will get to one of the many free attractions they offer here to give a Bernie guide to what is on offer here.
Singapore Changi Airport is the main airport in Singapore. As of March 2012, Changi Airport serves more than 100 airlines operating 6,100 weekly flights connecting Singapore to over 220 cities in about 60 countries and territories worldwide. The airport is a secondary hub for Qantas, which uses Singapore as the main stopover point for flights on the Kangaroo Route between Australia and Europe. Qantas is the largest foreign airline to operate from the airport, with over two million passengers annually. An important contributor to the Economy of Singapore, more than 28,000 people are employed at the airport, which accounts for over S$4.5 billion in output. Changi Airport has four passenger terminals with a total annual handling capacity of more than 70 million passengers. Terminal 1 opened in 1981, followed by Terminal 2 in 1990 and Terminal 3 in 2008. The Budget Terminal, opened in 2006, will be closed in September 2012 to make way for Terminal 4 which will be ready by 2017. In 2011, the airport handled 46,543,845 passengers, a 10.7% increase over the previous year. This made it the seventh busiest airport in the world and the second busiest in Asia by international passenger traffic in 2011. The airport crossed the 45 million mark for the first time in its history in December 2011, recorded its busiest month in December 2011 (4.53 million) and its busiest day on 17 December 2011 with 165,000 passengers handled. In addition to being an important passenger hub, the airport is one of the busiest cargo airports in the world, handling 1,865,252 tons of cargo in 2011. The total number of commercial aircraft movements was 301,711 in 2011. The airport has won over 390 awards since 1981, including 23 'Best' awards in 2011. If you have an airport stopover Changi is a great airport for things to see and do and most of them are for free.
The first GREAT thing about the airport is they offer free internet access with over 500 computer stations over the 3 terminals. You don’t need to sign up, you just log into what you want and then they give you 15 minutes to do ‘your’ thing. If there isn’t anyone waiting you can just hook back in for another 15 minutes but I find that is enough time to check emails and check and update Facebook. They don’t have chairs they are benches so they don’t promote that you slouch away for hours on the computers but generally there are always available ones as you walk around the terminals. So with 4 hours to pass here this time around, I stopped for dinner at Burger King, I know it seems boring as there are a lot of restaurant options here but I promise I will not here again on my next 9 trips, but it was good as they had Mexican wings that looked and tasted just like the wingettes that I was eating far too often on my trip in Spain last year. They were delicious and hit the spot for me to then explore 2 of the many gardens that Changi has to offer. The first was the Cactus Garden in terminal 1, departure transit lounge, level 3. This award-winning garden showcases more than 40 species of cacti and succulents from Africa and the Americas. Have an out-of-the world experience in this forest of surreal plants like the Golden Barrels, Silver Touch, Oldman Cactus, towering Prickly-Pear and giant bottle shaped Club-Foot trees. There is also a collection of massive prehistoric Cycads, towering Euphorbia's and tree-like Dracaenas. AS it was now dark outside there was mood lighting through the pathways that made it all look a little magical. There was also a smokers section out here as it is an outdoor garden and there was also a bar tucked away in the corner that had TV’s showing the Olympics and some music playing. It was actually a nice way to get away from the hectic pace of the airport and it didn’t really feel like you were in an airport at all. My second garden that I had on my list was the Red Tulips, which are these massive flower looking lights that are lit up pink at night time. Well these seemed a lot more difficult to find as I asked 4 staff of the airport where they were when my map failed to get me to the right place and no-on really knew and I was getting sent back and forth over terminal 1. I was about to give up when I saw a small sign telling me I had found them and you can imagine my disappointment when I went outside and found that they weren’t working!!! After all that. I do need to mention that most of the gardens are outdoors, which means it is also a smoker’s zone which detracts a little as you walk around passively smoking, but it is nice to get outdoors and to see something else besides arrival and departure screens.
It was time for me to start my way back to my departure gate. So I have done 2 things off my ‘Changi’ list which is a start and then every time I pass back through here I’ll add something else to the list. I might as well and if it helps pass the time in transit why not. Most of my flights are transiting through the night, so I won’t be able to do the free city tours that the airport offers during day transits, but I am sure there will be plenty of things to keep me busy without having to leave the airport anyway. I also go through all three terminals which is also pretty cool, if there is such a thing as a cool transit in an airport. We passed through another security check point to get us to the departure gate and then we only had to wait around 45 minutes as they started to call us to board by rows. I was sitting in the same seat number that I had from Brisbane, but this time I was going to be on the A380! This was going to be a treat. As I was row 53K I was expecting to be one of the first called, but on the A380 economy starts from row 51 so I was in the last call on board which I normally hate as all the overhead space generally disappears but whether it was people around me didn’t have lots of hand luggage or the bins are bigger I had no issues and with me settled into my massive, MASSIVE window seat I didn’t have to wait long to find out that I had the middle seat spare again for the 12 hour and 40 minute flight direct into London.
As mentioned I was on the A380 and this plane is MASSIVE. My seat was at the start of the wing section and to look out my window and see the MASSIVE engines and the length of the wings you just have to wonder how something so bug can actually take off. It really is a marvel to behold that is for sure. I didn’t find the width of the seats that generous but the knee to seat in front of you ratio was really good and the in seat TV’s are the size of an IPad, perfect for movie watching and all touch screen. The seating configuration was 3x4x3 and the welcome announcement from the purser told us there were 365 passengers, 21 staff and 4 pilots on the flight. That is the first time ever I have heard those stats from a flight, but always great information for the blog.
The Airbus A380 is a double-deck, wide-body, four-engine jet airliner. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and, due to its size, many airports have had to expand their facilities to properly accommodate it. Designed to challenge Boeing's monopoly in the large-aircraft market, the A380 made its maiden flight on 27 April 2005 and entered initial commercial service in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines. The A380's upper deck extends along the entire length of the fuselage, with a width equivalent to a wide-body aircraft. This allows for an A380-800's cabin with 478 square meters of floor space; 49% more floor space than the next-largest airliner, the Boeing 747-400 with 321 square meters and provides seating for 525 people in a typical three-class configuration or up to 853 people in all-economy class configurations. The A380-800 has a design range of 15,400 kilometers sufficient to fly from New York to Hong Kong, and a cruising speed about 900 km/h. As of July 2012 there had been 257 firm orders for the A380, of which 80 have been delivered. The largest order, for 90 aircraft, was from Emirates.
I was tired. I am lucky I can sleep on planes and with this flight being a night flight departing Singapore at 11.20pm, after the mighty A380 had taken off we were feed a late dinner and then it was time for me to bunk down for the night and get some sleep. It was a shame that I was so tired as they had a great selection of movies that I wanted to watch but my eyelids were just too heavy to keep open and I nodded off to sleepy land for 9, yes NINE hours… Now that is probably the best way to kill time on the flight, 9 hours past only gave me just under 4 hours to fill before landing. So I switched on a movie and watched ½ of The Sapphires, which is an Australian movie that only got released at the cinema the day before, so that was pretty cool until the entertainment system decided to crap itself and it was all shut down for 30 minutes as they restarted it. By the time it was back up and running breakfast was being served and I would run out of time to see the ending so I decided to read and just listen to my music as I watched the sun set over a foggy London as we came into land.
Once we arrived into London Heathrow it was like a ghost town. We arrived in at 5.30am, so I guess we were probably one of the first morning arrivals, but I wasn’t going to complain as I passed through British immigration, briefly grilled on what and how long I would be in the UK, the waiting in line and process took about 15 minutes. I have heard that since the Olympics that everything has been moving like clockwork and I can account that this is definitely the case, well at 5.30am in the morning anyway. Considering how far we had to walk to get to immigration and then down to the baggage carousel, we only had to wait 10 minutes and then the bags starting to slide onto the conveyor belt. With a trolley in hand and my bag one of the first off the plane, I was able to make my way straight out of customs. Now I had to work out how I was going to get to Victoria Station which is where I had to get to catch the overland train to Paps and Ems place where I would be staying for the week while I was in London. There are 2 ways this could be done. You can catch the Heathrow Express to Paddington which takes only 15 minutes or you can catch the Tube that takes over an hour with stops and masses of people. You pay a premium for the Heathrow Express, but for me with the timing of peak hour, with my backpack and the bustle of the workers heading to a boring/grinding job it was worth to pay the 21GBP to get me all the way to Victoria Station with a change at Paddington. Especially since I had been on the go for more than 24 hours, it was well worth the extra cash. I was lucky the Heathrow Express wasn’t busy and my arrival into Paddington and getting on the Victoria line wasn’t that busy either. Keeping in mind it is still only 6.30am in the morning.
Once I got to Victoria Station I had to find the ticket counter for my ticket to Streatham and then where to go once I had that ticket. The lady behind the counter was super helpful and once I had my ticket I had to keep my eye on the departures board to see what platform my 7.15am train would be departing. Well I waited and waited and waited when with only 10 minutes till the departure time a platform was allocated and I had to haul some backpack arse to get there with 5 minutes to spare. Nothing like letting people know at the last minute. So I was now on a suburbia train and I knew what station I had to get off but I hadn’t counted the stops so I sat with my backpack still strapped to my back and watched busy London traffic pass me by till I got to my station where Em’s was waiting with a massive hug and a great cheery smile, just the way I remember her. It was good to be here.
So that was day 454 of my World Odyssey. Welcome back to my faithful and loyal readers. I will be continuing my daily blogs just like before, my labor of love continues and I look forward to sharing more of my journey, my highs, my lows and what this wonderful world has to offer. I am doing what I love and no matter how it all came about, everything works out for a reason and I just need to follow my heart and my head and know that all will be okay in the end.
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