Ok, decided to give up on my immunization docs and finally left my place at 7.30 pm. However, stupid thunderstorm and a vehicle breakdown on the PIE caused a great jam and bottle neck all the way from Benjamin sheares bridge to clementi. Finally reached the airport and checked in my luggage at 8.30 pm. I love the internet check-in for sia! Went online to check in 48 hours before my flight but was told by a friend that there are economy seats on the upper deck as well. So, yesterday night, went to change my seats and got 1 of the last 3 seats left on the upper deck. Coming back to my check-in, my 2 main luggage was actually less of its 40 kg limit. So i tried to coerce the check-in staff to let me check-in a third bag that i had planned to hand carry. All of the luggage would have been some 8 kg overweight but after seeing me try very hard to lessen its weight, she let me check in everything despite a 5 kg overweight. Yippee!
Met caroline at my check-in counter as she had to go home early to do work. too bad my camera was stuck at the bottom of my bag. Decided not to take photo – we have had plenty of other photos already anyway. *grin*
Finally went over to our dinner place at terminal 2 – soup restaurant. some dear friends (colleague Joshua, pri classmate wensi, and sec sch basketball team mate xinyan) were already sitting a table i had booked earlier and waiting for my arrival an entire hour later than my schedule... *oops* the entire table was finally filled up and despite me calling to tell them to get the food ready, the restaurant took their time to serve the food. It was almost like an advance celebration for my BIG 30 birthday. I had my family with me, my dearest friends from primary, secondary and JC, and my colleagues all at the same place. I was feeling strange, not sure how to entertain all of them, but thank god they could take care of themselves. (yes, i’m just a dear old worry-wart.)
Finished dinner and went back to terminal 3. Met up with robin, alphonsus, Jason and gf xinying. okies, would have stayed on schedule if i had gone in straight away. But of course, need to spend some time to socialise and take photos. I was kinda surprised that i felt a tinge of sadness at leaving but not exactly enough to cry. However, i was very surprised at seeing my mum’s red eyes and that she was trying very hard not to cry. She was beaming when my brother left. Now, that made me cry a lil after i got into the terminal. I felt very bad at leaving my family behind to fend for themselves, with my brother also gone in Sweden for his training for 3 whole years. I had always looked up to my mum but i guess i didn’t realised that she would miss my leaving. I hope my dad will be able to comfort and console my mum. It must really be difficult to have both your kids leave at the same time after all our time at home. I’m getting sad as i type all these down. So, a change of topic.
By this time, i was juggling 2 big bags of files and papers which i just hapzardly dumped from my table. Of course, there was also this foldable trolley for my big checked-in luggage. Oh yes, and one more, my laptop bag. Not at all the carefree traveller that i had hoped to be.
That’s why i was pretty fortunate... in the middle of dinner, i received a call from sia asking if i could change seats for an elderly couple. I was offered a window seat instead of my centre-centre seat. Of course, i wouldn’t mind. As long as it was on the upper deck. Wat a stroke of luck that was! The window seat comes with its cubby hole, big enough to dump my laptop bag, and a lot of other stuff i will mention later. My bag of files and papers went under the seat in front, together with the foldable trolley. So just left a bag of misc into the overhead cabinet. There was also sufficient space under the seat in front for my boots, which i removed immediately after i put all my bags in place. Pity i didn’t take a photo. So yes, the seats on a380 are slightly wider. As for leg space, i didn’t notice as i always have plenty of leg space anyway. Yes, finally, an advantage in having short legs. *grin*
Flight went well. Made conversation with my neighbour, an aussie going on a 3 month holiday in Europe. Wow! Coincidentally, she is a retired primary school teacher. One should really get a window seat on the upper deck of an a380, unless you always need to walk about or go to the toilet. The cubby hole is not only useful for putting things in but also putting things on. And because on the upper deck, you only need to inconvenience one other person when you need to get out of your seat.
Other than the 3 times the stupid inflight entertainment system failed on me, it was a great flight! A word of advice, pls do not watch the inflight entertainment for the entire flight. Do switch it off (centre button below the screen) after every movie so that the screen can cool down.
Usually, i would finish all the food. But although i was feeling hungry, i wasn’t in a mood to eat much and just kept drinking milk. Therefore, i managed to keep a lot of food from my flight, which will help me save some money towards my first meals in London. food taken from flight – chicken roll (supper snack), dried cranberries (inflight snack), cheese & crackers (dinner starter), mars bar (dinner dessert), bread roll, butter & jam (breakfast starter), cereal and milk (breakfast). After arriving in London, the chicken roll became my first dinner, the cereal and milk and cranberries my first breakfast.
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