The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Arrived in Singapore!

Singapore is country #35 for us!

It's the first new country since we were in Barbados is October of 2017.

Let me tell you about the last 24 hours or so...

We got up at silly o'clock again in Los Angeles this morning. That would be around 3:30am. We requested an Uber taxi to get us to the airport. But this time, I was smart about it. I put the requested drop off location just outside the airport so that we didn't have to pay the airport drop off fee. This save us a few dollars, plus we got ten minutes worth of exercise because we walked the extra distance.

No problem getting our flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Oddly, we were just about the only white people on that plane. The rest looked to be varieties of Asian. We guessed that most of them would also be getting on the Singapore flight with us, but who knows.

Flying in for our connection in rainy San Francisco.

It was supposed to be only a two and a half hour connection. We were starved and had to get some expensive airport food for breakfast. We each had a nicely done fresh sandwich on gluten free bread. Without a drink, the bill was $23 USD ($31 CAD) for the two sandwiches. 

Yikes. But, we needed some food.

Getting settled on the Dreamliner.

They got us on the plane. It was almost full, but not quite. There were maybe 4 or 5 empty seats in economy. And a few more than that empty in Premium economy where you get ever so slightly more legroom. They came on the speaker saying that you could not sit there unless you were willing to fork over an extra $236... and yes, they have a credit card machine for your convenience!

Then, we were an hour late departing. The pilot came on and blamed it on a communication problem, then came on again and blamed it on a catering problem.

People were not impressed having to sit on the plane an hour longer than expected... especially on a scheduled 17 hour 10 minute flight!

The entertainment system is really nicely done.

Huge selection of movies to keep you entertained. I watched four complete movies during the flight, as well as a couple of episodes of Friends.

It wasn't long after take off that they came around with beverage service, including free wine and beer for those of us in the cheap seats.

Then meal service. We had requested the gluten free option, and that's what we got.

Kind of an uninspiring meal.

A piece of dry chicken breast with no sauces or spices. Ruth could teach them a thing or two about gluten free cooking! And the salad tasted like those "salad in a bag" that you can buy in the grocery store. Except this one had been sitting around too long and didn't come with any dressing. Good thing we had wine to wash it down with.

The best part of the meal!
The ice cream was delicious!

Later in the flight they came around with a snack and another drink if you wished. Ours was some kind of cold curried rice with chick peas, lettuce, and tomato. Not bad. At least it had some flavor.

Then they served us another meal two hours prior to landing. Ours was the exact same meal we had when we took off. Identical! Not great food. And we didn't even get ice cream the second time around.

Other than the food, the flight was fine. I found that the 18 hours passed without much problem. I would have a nap in between movies, and then there was the meal and drink service to break things up.

We arrived in Singapore at about 7:35pm local time. No problems getting through immigration. The officer was friendly and smiling and offered a couple of candies to welcome us to Singapore, as he processed our passports and paperwork. (Some countries could learn a thing or two about being more welcoming. You can be a border guard and be pleasant at the same time!)

We bought a local SIM card for the phone. SingTel has a Tourist Special where you buy a new SIM card for $15 SGD ($14.60 CAD, $10.90 USD) and it's only valid for 7 days. It includes unlimited local calling, and 30 minutes of long distance to Canada or the U.S... as well as text messaging and an amazing 100 GB of data, and yes, you can use your phone as a hotspot.

So, for $5 a day for the three days we are here, we are well connected.

Next stop was to buy a transit pass. We paid $15 SGD each for those. $5 for the card, and $10 worth of credit. Then, we hopped on the train to downtown.

Getting on the train.

By this time, it was dark out so no point in taking photos. Don't worry... there will be lots of photos of Singapore coming over the next couple of days!

Inside the train.

Made it to our AirBnb accommodations and let ourselves in using a passcode. We will be fine here. Might be glad we have air conditioning... it is hot and humid! But that's okay. We'll take this over what we left behind in Canada!

We're off to bed.... exhausted!

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And in Canada...




22 comments:

  1. I can't remember if you said - what airline did you fly? I think most airline food sucks...lately we bring lots of snacks just in case as Westjet ran out of food (for purchase) on our return flight before the attendants got to us. We were starving when we got home at 1 am so had to make eggs and toast before going to bed. Glad you made it there safe!

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    1. Kevin may have mentioned in a previous post, but we flew with United Airlines from Las Angeles to San Francisco to Singapore. Our original flight was with Quantas and their are one of the top rated airlines, and are supposed to have great food, we were so disappointed when we had to cancel our flight with them. We did bring a bag of chips with us but it isn't the same. Usually if we have kitchen facilities, I will make something to bring with us but that wasn't the case this time.

      That really sucks that they didn't have enough food for everyone, maybe they don't normally have so many people buying the food. I know that we never buy the food on the airplane, if that's the case, that is when I really make sure we have snacks with us.

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  2. Airlines have not figured out yet how to do gluten free options. I bet Ruth has seen more TV in the last 24 hours than in the last year! Glad the flight felt fast, I was on an 8 hour flight to the UK that felt like forever. Can't wait to see more photos of the next few days! Lots to pack in during this time, Singapore is a huge place!

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    1. Nope they don't. We have been on flights where they have given us a gluten free vegetarian meal. I guess they are afraid of making a mistake or maybe if they make a sauce for the meal they have too many people questioning whether it really is gluten free. I don't know what the problem is but I know I am just happy that they provide me with something that is gluten free otherwise I would risk the chance of not being able to eat anything and 17 hours is too long for that.

      Yep, I haven't watched that many movies at one time for forever, I think!

      We will hopefully have some great pictures to show you in our next post. We had another long day today, just out exploring. Our feet are exhausted!

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  3. Yep customs in Canada gave us a hard time...no smiles but barked orders at us and scrutinized our faces for, it seemed, 10 minutes. No welcome to Canada salutation either.

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    1. For us, we have had more border guards on the US side that are all business, no smile, nothing. We have had that with the Canadian border guards as well but not as common.

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  4. That sure is one heck of a long flight, now get rested up and some more sightseeing.

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    1. Yes, it was a very long flight and we are glad that it is behind us now. Definitely worth it though, just to see new countries and new cultures.

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  5. On our flight to Hawaii, 9 hrs. They didn't serve anything to drink. They wanted us walking to ward off blood clots in legs.

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    1. I can't imagine them not serving any drinks! They didn't even give you coffee, tea, pop or water? Good that they wanted people up and walking around though.

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  6. I'm surprised the food wasn't up to snuff on that flight. All the international flights I've flown from SFO or Vancouver to Manila served good food and snacks and yes, free wine and good selection of current movies. It's how I get caught up with the recent releases. LOL! Looking forward to tales about Bali.

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    1. The food was probably ok for the majority of the people, it is just the specialty meals that aren't always so good. Like with my gluten free meal, not putting on any kind of seasoning on the chicken, it was just a piece of plain chicken breast, no butter, garlic or anything for that matter and it was dry to top it off. No salad dressing for the salad, just plain. Glad that they had some wine though, that was a nice treat and the ice cream was delicious but that wasn't even served with the gluten free meal, the airline attendant just happened to ask us if we wanted one as a few people with the regular meals didn't want it so they had a few extras.

      They had a great selection of movies, definitely helped to pass the time.

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  7. I enjoy being on an airplane. A great disconnect from the world below. But the food and service part just ain't what it used to be.

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    1. We like airline travel as well, it just hard to do it work 17 hours straight, but definitely worth it in the long run. :-)

      We had no problem with the service, just that the food could have been a little better and it wouldn't have taken much either.

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  8. It looked like that chicken was afraid of flying!! It was white with fear!! Enjoy your travels.

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  9. How long did it take to get feeling back in you body after sitting so long? Wow, that was one loooong flight! ;c)

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  10. I’m glad you’re happy with the pre-paid SIM card in Singapore. I have a horrible experience with Bell pre-paid card in Vancouver. Paid CAD$15 for the card and CAD$30 for 1gb but had 250mb only. Top up another CAD$30 for another 1gb, but was told, the amount will be paid for the surcharge used beyond the 250mb for the month. Line was suspended! Staff told me to buy another card and pay for 1gb. I’m going home to Singapore in 2 days... bad experience with Canada Telco.����☹️

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    1. Canada has the most expensive cellular access in the world. There are a lot of good things about Canada, but it would be a rare to find a good experience when dealing with a Canadian cell phone company!

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  11. Happy you arrived safe and sound. The airline food does not look appetizing at all. Enjoy your stay.

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    1. Thank you! No it wasn't all that appealing but it did fill the tummy.

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