4.20am our alarm went off and away we went! Think we were both out of bed before we were really awake. We had a fantastic run through to the airport even though all Michael could worry about was leaving Milo (our cat) behind! He has been left in the care of Tiffany and Glen, and I'm sure he will be fine!
After checking our bags in, it was decided that I would also need a back pack sooner rather than later, so one more Pac Safe Back Pack, 2 inflatable neck cushions and 1 pack of name tags later we are now equipped to carry everything.
A quick coffee (and danish) under my belt and we headed off through the International departure doors (after a very kind and trustworthy looking fellow took the mandatory photo for us).
We were amazed at the people maze we encountered once through the doors - clearly we are first time overseas travellers! So many people heading out of the country and needing to get through security and customs. Michael was pulled over by a security bloke who looked exceedingly bored for a quick frisk search! Then we played the first of many waiting games one does on holidays!
As we were sitting in the waiting lounge flight crew for our flight arrived and waited also. I happened to have the co-pilot sit next to me and ended up chatting to him. I commented on the gorgeous uniforms the girls wear and he explained that they were colour coded, red being in charge, green - second in charge and blue - general crew. The guys wore ties with colours matching meaning the same, but the guy who was in charge of all the crew wore a purple tie. He also explained that even though our flight was going to be late taking off, we would still arrive in Singapore on time given the head winds forecast for the flight.
While we waited, I ended up joining in with other members of the public to line up while customs staff worked on training their 4 dogs in drug detection around people. The dogs had only been learning for a very short while, and clearly some had not totally mastered this skill as yet!
We finally headed off on what appeared to be a reasonably empty flight! Lots of spare seats, which was great as we were able to spread our things out and not be too restricted.
Lunch was either Beef Rendang or Pan fried Chicken with vegetables whilst dessert - Drumstick Ice cream!!
I'm sure we snoozed for a while as we both ended up using the small pillow and blanket supplied. I did a bit of crocheting and watched movie/doco's while Michael did the 'Learn about Singapore' on the inflight entertainment as well as tracking the flight and also movie/doco watching!
And before we new it there was more food, this time Beef Pie and a cuppa! Definitely no-one goes hungry on these flights!
We landed in Singapore at about 4.15pm and unlike Melbourne's queues to get through customs, we sailed through. Handed our declaration forms over, got our first stamp in our passports, through to collect our luggage (which were amongst the first few bags that came out) then on to meet our driver who was waiting for us! The driver was very informative as he drove us to our hotel (York Hotel) and as we found out later, he delivered us to the side entrance of the hotel! Not nearly as impressive as the front of the hotel. We checked in and found out we had been upgraded to a Deluxe Suite which was lovely - a huge space to get lost in! However, the time here was brief as we had to be back down in the lobby by 6.00 to be collected for our Night Safari Tour.
We joined what appeared to be a bus full of every nationality with a couple of Aussies thrown in for good measure! All heading off to do the same thing - visit the Night Safari. The tour guide explained his name was MZ and was full of information about what we would see and do while we were there. Firstly we boarded the tram which toured the entire circuit of the Zoo, taking about 45minutes. There so many different species of animals in each different segment of the zoo. On completion of this, everyone was able to do what they wished, so we walked a portion of the Fishing Cat Trail in the hope we would actually see the Fishing Cat fish! We did see them, however I guess they had done enough fishing for today! Heading back towards the Entrance Plaza we found a table to sit at whilst having a Ben & Jerry's Ice cream for dessert. The weather in Singapore is hot and humid - tonight being about 32 degrees and high humidity. Before we boarded back onto the bus, I needed to use the bathroom and usually I would not photograph a toilet, however this was the most amazing toilet I have ever seen.
Unfortunately my camera's battery died early in the tram ride, so we were unable to take many photos. Micheal's camera took some, but not much chop as his flash was playing up! We were back on the bus by 9.45pm and heading back to the hotel which was fine as we had been awake a very long time. A huge day!
We were amazed at the people maze we encountered once through the doors - clearly we are first time overseas travellers! So many people heading out of the country and needing to get through security and customs. Michael was pulled over by a security bloke who looked exceedingly bored for a quick frisk search! Then we played the first of many waiting games one does on holidays!
As we were sitting in the waiting lounge flight crew for our flight arrived and waited also. I happened to have the co-pilot sit next to me and ended up chatting to him. I commented on the gorgeous uniforms the girls wear and he explained that they were colour coded, red being in charge, green - second in charge and blue - general crew. The guys wore ties with colours matching meaning the same, but the guy who was in charge of all the crew wore a purple tie. He also explained that even though our flight was going to be late taking off, we would still arrive in Singapore on time given the head winds forecast for the flight.
While we waited, I ended up joining in with other members of the public to line up while customs staff worked on training their 4 dogs in drug detection around people. The dogs had only been learning for a very short while, and clearly some had not totally mastered this skill as yet!
We finally headed off on what appeared to be a reasonably empty flight! Lots of spare seats, which was great as we were able to spread our things out and not be too restricted.
Lunch was either Beef Rendang or Pan fried Chicken with vegetables whilst dessert - Drumstick Ice cream!!
I'm sure we snoozed for a while as we both ended up using the small pillow and blanket supplied. I did a bit of crocheting and watched movie/doco's while Michael did the 'Learn about Singapore' on the inflight entertainment as well as tracking the flight and also movie/doco watching!
And before we new it there was more food, this time Beef Pie and a cuppa! Definitely no-one goes hungry on these flights!
We landed in Singapore at about 4.15pm and unlike Melbourne's queues to get through customs, we sailed through. Handed our declaration forms over, got our first stamp in our passports, through to collect our luggage (which were amongst the first few bags that came out) then on to meet our driver who was waiting for us! The driver was very informative as he drove us to our hotel (York Hotel) and as we found out later, he delivered us to the side entrance of the hotel! Not nearly as impressive as the front of the hotel. We checked in and found out we had been upgraded to a Deluxe Suite which was lovely - a huge space to get lost in! However, the time here was brief as we had to be back down in the lobby by 6.00 to be collected for our Night Safari Tour.
We joined what appeared to be a bus full of every nationality with a couple of Aussies thrown in for good measure! All heading off to do the same thing - visit the Night Safari. The tour guide explained his name was MZ and was full of information about what we would see and do while we were there. Firstly we boarded the tram which toured the entire circuit of the Zoo, taking about 45minutes. There so many different species of animals in each different segment of the zoo. On completion of this, everyone was able to do what they wished, so we walked a portion of the Fishing Cat Trail in the hope we would actually see the Fishing Cat fish! We did see them, however I guess they had done enough fishing for today! Heading back towards the Entrance Plaza we found a table to sit at whilst having a Ben & Jerry's Ice cream for dessert. The weather in Singapore is hot and humid - tonight being about 32 degrees and high humidity. Before we boarded back onto the bus, I needed to use the bathroom and usually I would not photograph a toilet, however this was the most amazing toilet I have ever seen.
Unfortunately my camera's battery died early in the tram ride, so we were unable to take many photos. Micheal's camera took some, but not much chop as his flash was playing up! We were back on the bus by 9.45pm and heading back to the hotel which was fine as we had been awake a very long time. A huge day!
does sound like a big first day...sounds like you are going to make the most of every minute...enjoy!
ReplyDeleteFantastic!
ReplyDeleteHow exciting -reminds me of our trip to India :-)