WEATHER: Plane-airport-plane-airport
HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Leaving and arriving on the same day
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Saying goodbye to my Brisbane posse
WORD OF THE DAY:
DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 3688km
Man 4.45am is an early start to the day. I had to be down in the lobby at 6am, but I
had to settle my bill, wash my hair, finish packing and also leave some notes
for the Elks and the Randall’s outside their doors with a few treats for the
kids when they woke up. I needed every
minute and when I got down to reception at 5.45am Bob, Jen, Paul and Wendy were
all ready to go. So being early we left
a little earlier which worked out to be a bit if a bummer as Shelly came down
right at 6am to say goodbye and we had already left. We were using the hotels transfer which is
double the price of the normal taxi’s but when we divided it by the 5 of us it
still worked out cheaper anyway and we didn’t have to do that stupid shuttle to
the transfer bungalow to then get into the van, so that was a nice
surprise. I was travelling with Shane’s
mum and dad, who like to be early for flights, which I am okay with, but I knew
we were getting to the airport too early for check-in but just decided to go
with the flow. I would have save maybe
an hour, so it really was no big deal.
Phuket’s airport really is a long way from Karon and even
that early in the morning still took us an hour to get to arriving at
6.45am. The transfer guy dropped us at
terminal 1 and we were leaving from terminal 2, but once we had passed all our
bags through the security scanner to enter the airport, it was easily accessed
s the 2 buildings are connected anyway.
Bob mentioned something about a departure tax, which you used to have to
pay when leaving, but I was pretty sure even while I was still working that the
taxes were now included in the ticket, but I guess we will soon find out. I still had a wad of left over Baht so it
didn’t make any difference to me. So we
found out check-in counter and as thought, there were no signs up and no signs
of any staff just yet. So we took a seat
and waited. We did have some
entertainment though and just after we had sat down there were bags coming
through the security screening. These
were no ordinary bags, they were all the same colour maroon, same style and the
only difference between them was the numbers that they had on the top left of
each bag. They all had wheels on them
and they were getting scooted from the security machine 20m away on their
wheels to where there were guys lining the bags up, it is certainly one way to
get a group check-in done and looked like they had done it before. There was no sign of the passengers, which
was good as we saw bags that were numbered 196 and 224-it looked to be a
massive group of some sort. They had an
intermission which must have been the reloading of more bags from where ever
they were coming from and by this time we were front of queue as we saw the
Jetstar staff appear at 7.30am. The 5 of
us checked in-all given seats all over the plane, I had my window and my bag
was 22.1kg, and as we passed the bags that had rolled in I took a photo and one
of the bag guys jokingly asked for 5BHT.
Seriously there would have been 200 bags. I am just glad we got to go through the
check-in and security without the people that own all the bags in front of
us.
I still can’t believe who many Russians there are
holidaying here in Thailand and it made a little more sense when we looked at
the departure board and there was a flight there leaving 15 minutes before us
direct to Vladivostok. I guess if I
lived in Vladivostok I would want to get out of there as well, especially this
time of year as they head into winter. I
saw the plane that was running the route and I had never heard of the airline
and it wasn’t a massive plane like a 747, which I would expect. I wonder how long that flight actually
is? I will have to Google it and see. They must be doing some pretty enticing
advertising up there is all I can say.
Our plane didn’t board till 9.15am, so after a look around the shops, a
toasted sandwich and a drink we were ready to go on time. I thought I had a 4 hour connection in
Singapore but it was only 2.5 hours and I have to collect my bag, transfer
terminal s and then recheck in for my flight to Sri Lanka. The whole process isn’t that difficult, it is
just all based on time. So it was good
to know that this flight was on time-the budget carriers don’t always have a
great reputation for being on time. It
was a full flight but I had my window.
We were sitting on an Airbus A320 with a configuration of 3x3. There really isn’t a lot of room on these
Jetstar planes, but I guess when you only pay 69AUD for a flight, they are
going to jam as many of you in an aircraft as they can. The flight time was 1 hour and 40 minutes and
I fell asleep for half of that anyway. I
am tired already and I still have a full day of travel ahead if me! It was nice to have a day time departure as I
had arrived into Phuket in the dark of the night…..
With a one hour time difference we arrived exactly on
time at 12.30pm. My next flight was
departing at 3pm. I was towards the back
of the plane; the other 4 were in the first 6 rows, so they were long gone when
I came off. That was okay as I had to
haul some arse-I was even that focused I didn’t stop to check the free
internet, I bypassed that and figured I can do that once I was at the right
terminal with my bag checked in at terminal 3.
There was no-one waiting at immigration, I saw Bib and Jen at one of the
other officers getting stamped and once I was processed I shot out of there and
re-met the crew at the baggage carousel to say our goodbyes. I was ready with a free trolley and my bag
was one of the first ones off the rank-woo hoo this is all coming together
nicely. So with hugs all round I was on
my way, I must have looked like I was in a hurry as the security man let me
through without scanning my bags. I
needed to get to terminal 3, which I have never check-in to before, so I just
followed the signs with my trolley as far as I could go, till I had to throw
the monster on my back and head up the escalators to the skytrain. The Skytrain departs every 3 minutes and the
actual ride is shorter than that again and I found myself at T3. I was feeling a lot more relaxed now that I
was here, found the check-in counter for Sri Lankan Airlines and there was
no-one waiting and I threw my bag on the scales and it still weighed 22.1kg to
which there was no reaction from the check-in guy. I asked about my window seat and he said you
have an aisle. WHAT. No no I need a window, so when I asked him to
check if there was a window available he said no there are none left. Oh man…..
I think this maybe the only flight that I have not had a window and
that’s a pretty good ratio when this was my 72nd flight of my
Odyssey. Oh well if there isn’t a
window, there isn’t a window.
Security is done on a random basis in Singapore and I
have been waved through both times, the queue was not that long for customs and
I was through at 1.10pm. We had to be at
our gate at 1.50pm-so I had 40 minutes to get something quick to eat and now I
have a little routine and I found Burger King, ordered my passionfruit iced tea
and 6 drummettes and I after I picked up a Wi-Fi code from the information desk
I quickly checked my email and Facebook over lunch. There was an email from Beth and my
Philippines package has now been confirmed for the 10 nights I am there. So I head to Cebu and Boracay with a night in
Manila either side. So I’m happy with
that itinerary and hope that it doesn’t rain too much while I am there as there
were floods there 4 weeks ago which I am assuming have receded by now!
Changi Airport has three passenger terminals with
terminal 3 being the newest. The airport
has a total annual handling capacity of 66 million passengers. Terminal 1
opened in 1981, followed by Terminal 2 in 1990 and Terminal 3 in 2008. The
Budget Terminal, opened on 26 March 2006 and closed on 25 September 2012, will
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 by international passenger traffic 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 tonnes of cargo in 2011. The total number
of commercial aircraft movements was 301,711 in 2011. It didn’t look too busy today but I have
always been here later in the afternoon/evenings so maybe this is their lull before
the storm of planes landing and taking off.
I found the gate with no issues and it wasn’t quite ready
for us yet, so I sat on some of the seats outside and just used the internet on
my IPod till the gate opened. As usual I
set off the alarms and the scanner ladies can see straight away what the issue
is with my silver bangles on one arm and my Ethiopian bangles on the
other. This old chook was super nice and
we had a good old laugh as her hand held went off over the ‘hot’ spots. We then made it to the gate to get out boarding
passes scanned and I decided to ask one more time about a window seat. So the lady had a quick look and then picked
up her walkie talkie and asked if it was okay to take one of ‘their’ seats for
a passenger. They came back and said
that was fine and my boarding pass was amended in pen and I was now in a
window!! WOO HOO. I can’t tell you how
much I love my window for a few different reasons, I can lean on the window to
sleep, I am not going to be disturbed by people wanting to get out for the
toilets and I don’t get bumped by people or trolleys sitting there PLUS I get a
window to take pictures from during day time flights. You little ripper and thank-you travel gods
for looking after me today!
Once the call was made we were ready to board they board
by seat rows and I was in 26 and this was the last row of the aircraft. I know people hate sitting down the back of
the plane, but it doesn’t worry me and if it means I have a window I am doubly
ok with it. It also meant I got to get
on first and get my overhead space before everyone else gets on the plane. I love scooting past people that have been
lining up for the last 10 minutes…love it.
I was all tucked in and being the last row noticed the queue for the
toilets was 8 people deep, were there no toilets in gate departures? I have never seen a toilet that busy while
people are still trying to board the plane.
The Hostees were trying to get past the line, people trying to get to
their seats; it was a bit of a schmozzle.
What do I care, I was tucked in and imagine my delight when the airplane
doors closed and there was no-one else in my row! I had the row to myself and across the aisle
there were 3 men all packed in on the other side and instead of moving one guy,
the aisle man put his bag on my aisle seat….
We were sitting on an Airbus A320 with a configuration of 3x3. We had inseat TV’s that had a selection of
movies, but I had seen them all, so I decided to just try and keep my eyes open
till lunch was served and then get some shut eye, I was so tired. The flight time was 3 hours and 35 minutes
and after leaving 30 minutes late we were in the air at 3.30pm.
Coming into Sri Lanka the scenery was amazing. There were a lot of green mountains, some of
them covered in low clouds that gave it that magical look, so I got some great
photos of that and then as we came into land you could definitely see the
tropical look of the island with palm trees and coconut trees everywhere and
the obvious tea plantations also. It was
a great aerial view and I am so glad that I had a window for this section. The captain had made up some time on the
flight as we only arrived in 10 minutes late at 4.15pm. The welcome to Colombo call came and then
following was the temperature outside which was 32C!! I have a feeling it maybe a hot and sweaty
trip and I just hope that it is nothing like the heat I had on my Morocco trip
in June last year. We got temperatures
there in the high 40’sC and it was shocking!!!!!! There is a 2 hour time change here from
Singapore, so after gaining one hour in from Phuket to Singapore and then
losing 2 hours from Singa’s to Colombo I am just about back to where I started
time wise. I saw the guys across the
aisle had forms that mist have been given out while I was asleep, so I will
just have to keep my eyes peeled when I come into immigration for them. Being the last row, I was the last person off
the plane, but I was feeling okay even after being on the go for 12 hours so
far and I still had to get myself to the hotel.
I hadn’t Googled anything about the transfer information here as
Intrepid had in their notes that a taxi shouldn’t cost more than 15USD. The tour doesn’t start from Colombo but a
city 25km away called Negombo. But I had
a price to go by and this is all I needed.
I have no idea on the currency either at this point but I am sure there
will be a money changer in the terminal somewhere.
As we came to the immigration I could see that you can
get a visa on arrival. There was a
counter where you could buy one. From
all the information I read it was like a US visa and it had to be done online 3
days before travel so I had done mine online when I was in London and paid the
20USD on my credit card at the time of application. I hadn’t really had a chance to print it out
though, but I had a copy of the email on my IPod and I had also written my
approval code on a sticky note in my passport.
I got to the counter and you did need an arrival form to fill in, so
while he processed me I went and got a form and filled it in and by the time I
gave him the form I was stamped, stickered and on my way through. He was really nice and thanks for being so
nice Mr. Immigration man. My bag was
already out, so I grabbed a free trolley, hoisted my monster on and then I was
out in arrivals. There were a few things
I could see that I could do while I was here, and as no-one was waiting for me
I could take my time. Firstly I
exchanged some cash and there were a few banks represented, so I chose one and
got 100USD changed, so I know new how much I get for 1USD. I have to say I am not that great at my 130
times tables!!! Next I saw a mobile
phone counter, so I stated to make my way there when a friendly looking man
asked if I needed a taxi, he had on an ID badge so I thought he must be okay
and he told me to come to the travel booth when I was done and he could
organize one for me. Well I do need a
taxi, he had a booth at the airport and he had on an ID tag-I think I was going
to be in safe hands. So I got to the
phone counter and asked about a Sri Lankan sim, more so for making calls than
the texting and it was 10USD for the sim and I loaded 10USD on the card and got
all the codes and numbers for balances.
So I now had cash and a sim and now I needed my taxi.
My little man was hovering around so I asked the whole important
question on how much the transfer was and he told me 1500LKR (rupees) when
divided by 130 was only 11USD. That was
fine by me, so we went to the counter, he gave me a receipt for my cash and
then we walked outside to a taxi he had radioed from inside. It was an air-conditioned Camry and a
personal transfer and not a normal taxi, so worth every penny of my 11
bucks. So with a kiss on each cheek from
my taxi dude I was driven away for the 25 minute drive to Negombo and my
hotel. You wouldn’t believe that when we
started to dive that Mr. Jones (one of most favorite songs ever) came on the
radio I was in a good place. I had my
visa processed, some cash, a sim card and a taxi all done within 30 minutes and
I was on the road. What a great travel
day. My driver wasn’t sure of where the
hotel was, but he wasn’t scared about asking people and we found it with no
problems. I am nicely surprised on how
many people speak English well here and it makes a nice change and the hotel
was no different. I asked about Wi-Fi
and breakfast and was then shown to my very hot room, but my porter turned on
the air-con and he was worth every 200LKR I have him for carrying my bag to my
room. The ‘resort’ actually looks really
nice and I could see the beach from the walkway. The restaurant faces onto the pool and it
just has a nice feel about the place. I
think I am going to like my 3 nights pre-tour here. Today is Thursday and our pre-departure
meeting isn’t until Sunday afternoon, so I am assuming sometime on Sunday I
will be getting a room- mate and then we hit the road on Monday.
Dinner was at the hotel and from what I could make out I didn’t
see any mosquitos during the day but down at dinner there were swarms of
them. I saw a sign at the airport saying
that their mosquitos don’t carry malaria, which is nice, but when you can see
them flying around and feeling them land on you is still too much for me. As an after-thought before heading down I did
spray my feet and my legs, but I didn’t do my arms and not much care was
taken. I will make sure I lube up better
for tomorrow night’s dinner. The food
was amazing, like 5 star qualities and I will enjoy eating my meals here for
the next 3 days and the prices aren’t too bad either.
Welcome to Sri Lanka.
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