By the numbers
1 plane
17kg bag
7 kg hand luggage.
The day had finally come where I would get onto a plane and
fly to the other side of the world to Frankfurt as my starting place for my 8
week journey. I had to finish a day at work before flying out, which was not
that bad at all and the day actually went pretty quickly.
I didn’t have any
packing to do as I had finished that off the night before on the Saturday. All
I needed to do was head to the airport and that was it. I did get some food
before I left and it was actually a good thing too as it was a long trip on an
empty stomach. I was able to catch the train earlier than I expected, which was
really good, although I had entertainment on the train from some boofheads who
were talking loudly about their hemeroids
and what happens when they go bad. They were singing and laughing about
explicit rap music. Later a couple were too slow getting off the train and hit
the wrong button as one wanted the trackside and not the platform side. They
had to wait til the next station.
I had a half hour wait until checkin opened for Singapore
Airlines. This was the first time I had flown with them and they were
efficient. I had the boarding passes already printed out and there was a line
specifically for the people who had done so. I was second in line for that area
and I was happy. They gave me better boarding passes, but still I had no
problems there at all. I did end up having a pie and coffee while I waited in
departures and the plane was already waiting at the gate. There were several
other flights departing around the same time, but they were not going to be of
impact at all.
The section of the plane I was boarding on was section 4,
which meant the back was boarding first and I ended up stuck behind some kids.
One had a ride on luggage bag thing and she did gather some pace down the ramp.
I thought it was funny and did say that she should zoom to the end much to the
delight of her parents. The plane was nice and neat and there was plenty of
room on the seats and not once did the flight get very cold unlike my last trip
with Air Asia. I even got hot cloths twice on the flight, just after landing
and before landing. I got a complimentary bag of toiletries, which was a
toothbrush and toothpaste. The food was nice to eat and both times came with
metal cutlery. The TV screen showed the flight status and a few movies. I could listen to the movies with my own
headphones, but a small problem. I found I needed the two prong plug to hear
the movies properly. That did get corrected once I landed. I was happy that it
gave the time of the destination and at home. While I did sleep on the plane,
it was not enough, but it was enough to survive the landing at Changi. I had
set a watch in the past as I had obviously slumming it on past flights.
The flight actually landed early by around 45 mins and it
was still dark. I decided that I would take a walk through the airport and
several terminasls with an eye out for the new display called Jewel. I ended up
at every terminal looking for the entrance. Turns out you have to pass
immigration to do that as I later found out. I ended at the very far end of
terminal 2 at the very last set of gates and that was a far walk. I was in awe
of the sheer size of the airport that included a cactus garden, butterfly
garden and a few other things. You could tell you were in the budget end of the
terminal due to the different sorts of people. I soon learnt I had to pass
Customs into actual Singapore and the first time I did, I didn’t fill out a
card. I got sent back to get one and once I did they thumb printed me. I was
able to visit Jewel, although its really just a big waterfall with food shops
surrounding it. Still it was something to see on my long wander around the airport
and there was no problems passing immigration using my thumb prints either.
I think in a short amount of time I have covered a fair
amount of the airport from the beginning of my morning. I will soon await my
departure for Frankfurt and hope I will be in a decent condition before I fall
asleep. I needn’t worry about charging my phone as the plane has USB chargers.
I have used my portable charger, but that will get more use in Europe. I had to
turn my data roaming off as its $1 a meg. I do have to keep an eye on which
gate to use as they seem to be pretty far from each other.
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