Monday, March 3, 2008

Flight to Singapore

Well, I'm here! My flight to Newark was a bit delayed out of Indianapolis, but that turned out being for the best. When I got to Newark, I had to claim my luggage because I needed to recheck it through Singapore Airlines. I made it to the international terminal (which was CRAZY!!!) by about 6pm. HOWEVER... Singapore Airlines ticket counters don't open until 7:30pm sharp, no exceptions. SO there I was, two huge suitcases, a carry-on and a tote, with nothing to do for an hour and a half... I'm starving, and I need to go to the bathroom. Perfect! But, they finally opened and I was the 2nd person in line to check in.



The flight to Singapore was relatively uneventful. Mild turbulence, but not bad. I didn't sleep well, but dozed off and on the whole trip. Highlights of the flight... Singapore Airlines ROCKS inflight entertainment! Tons of movies, TV shows, video games, and music. The seats were really cool too. They recline to about 45 degrees, there is a footrest that folds out (think Barko-lounger), the TV control pops out like a remote control, the tray table is in the arm and the TV screen tilts and is the size of the whole seat in front of you. It was very luxurious, compared to what we have in the US.



The food was good. I had the opportunity to choose vegetarian meals. Also, in the back of the cabin they set up a snack bar. So, everytime I got up to move around, I could go get a cup of tea or water, fruit or other snacks. That was nice. My neighbor on the flight was Gilbert, a Singapore native. He and I chatted throughout the flight and he gave me some tips on things to see. We had a really good tail wind for most of the flight. I actually arrived in Singapore a whole hour early! Immigration was a breeze. Gilbert was nice enough to wait with me until Liza showed up. She was really shocked that we so early. We were in the taxi on our way to her apartment before 6:45am, the time that I was originally schedule to arrive!



So get out you map if you want to see the route we took to fly across the world. (They showed us a map of the flight and the route we took in the air.) We started in Newark and went north/northeast along the coast of N. America. Next we crossed the Atlantic toward Ireland then over London, Vienna, across the Caspian Sea to a route north of Baghdad, Kabul, SE to Delhi, across the Bay of Bengal to Phuket, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, then finally Singapore.



Bye for now.

2 comments:

lagators said...

I bet you are exhausted! I was thrilled to hear that you had arrived safely. What were your first impressions of the city? Do most people speak English? How many hours time difference is there? Have fun! Love, B.

Lora Adams said...

Hi Becky! Yes, most people speak English here. They also generally speak a second language. They also has various combos of language called Singlish, like we have Spanglish at home. Singapore is 13 hours ahead of EST. And, I would have to say that the housing arrangement here is the biggest difference that is hard to get used to. I can't imagine 85% of the population living in government controlled apartments.