Gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Posted (4 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 9514 times:
Part 2 LHR-SIN-HKG
First off, apologies for the very late posting of this trip report – I promised it in September, so December isn’t too bad! Unfortunately, however, time has taken it’s toll on my memory, and I also don’t have the menus to hand (not sure where they are), so some details are a little sketchy. Also, I’ve been having some issues with the photos (not sure if it’s me, photobucket, airliners.net or what, but they might not be displayed below. If not, you can see the slideshow (which should roughly match up chronologically) here:
If this doesn't link correctly (I have a sinking feeling that it doesn't, go to the photobucket homepage, search for user 'shefgab', then look for the SQ LHR-SIN-HKG album. Sorry, technology has finally gto the better of me.
As always, comments are appreciated. Thanks for reading.
I arrived at Heathrow Terminal 3 around 1930, so plenty of time to check in etc. I’d already checked in the night before online (I preselected my seats on the upper deck when I booked in June), so wasn’t worried about getting bad seats. My Dad and little sister would be joining me in Hong Kong for the first week I was back. My Dad spent the last week of August in India though, so we’d be meeting up in Hong Kong. My little sister was on the Jet Airways flight leaving the next morning (connecting in Mumbai (BOM), and meeting up with my Dad there, so they’d arrive together). My flights (I’d booked them to get on the A380 and B77W) weren’t fantastically timed, with a long overnight layover in Singapore. I thought, seeing as I was in no rush for once, I’d see if they needed any volunteers to fly the next day. I was definitely up for a night in a nice hotel, an upgrade the next day or some VDB compensation, so I queued up at the service desk before checking in. I wait for ten minutes, and the queue wasn’t going anywhere, so I gave up, and joined the normal check in line.
Terminal 3 is very cramped, and the queuing area was far too small to fit all the passengers of a fully booked A380. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait too long before a desk became free, and I was called forward. There was a bit of a delay (20 minutes…) as I didn’t have a Chinese visa, or a return ticket (needed for foreigners entering HK). I had a print out of my United flights to Singapore though, so they eventually accepted them as proof that I would leave. I also asked if they needed any volunteers to go on the next day’s flight, but the guy said no.
London (LHR) – Singapore (SIN)
August 2008
Scheduled: 2205-1755
Actual: 0007-1924
SQ 321
A380-800 9V-SKE (delivered 27th June 2008), 10th A380 built, 5th in passenger service
I went though security, which was understandably very busy – Sunday evening, at the end of August. There were very seats available, but I managed to find one next to the Starbucks in the middle of the main departure hall. It was watching the FIDS monitor that I noticed that the flight was delayed until 2230, hardly the end of the world (25 minutes), but annoying nevertheless. I also noted that the earlier SQ flight (SQ319, scheduled to depart at 1830 was now also delayed until 2230. There had been some localised flooding earlier in the afternoon, so I assume that that was the cause of the delays, though no other flights were as bad at the SQ319.
At around 2215, a gate was announced for both my flight, and the earlier one, and there was a cascade of passengers heading for the gates. I got to the gate fairly early, so managed to get a seat next to the boarding door. Hundreds of people continued to stream though the gates entrance for about half an hour. A 2230 departure was a far off dream by now.
Around 2240, they started to board. The plane, as was expected, was still looking clean and fresh, as were the cabin crew. The flight was 100% full, no empty rows on the lower deck like last time unfortunately. The time slowly ticked by, and nothing much was said by the cabin crew as to why we were delayed. Finally, at around 2330, we left the stand. We reached the end of the runway around 2355, and finally took off 0007, over 2 hours late. Interestingly, I saw the SQ 319 B744 just behind us in the line for take off, so it seems like Singapore Airlines was having a tough evening.
Due to the very late departure, the crew served the meals as soon as they could. Once the trays were cleared, the lights were dimmed, and most people I think went to sleep, including myself. I managed about 7 hours of sleep, which was pretty good. Most of the window shades were kept down for the flight. I opened mine a bit after I woke up, but it was blindingly bright, and cloud cover was 100%, so shut it again almost immediately. If you want to see more interior pics of the A380, see part one which has a lot.
Breakfast/lunch/dinner (depending on what time your internal body clock was on) was served about 2 hours before landing.
We didn’t make up much of the delay, and landed after dusk, which meant that it had been dark for an awfully long time. On the plus side, there were some very nice views out of the window on our approach into Singapore. I really like the A380 wing.
I wasn’t in a rush to disembark (I now had fifteen and half hours to make my connection!), but quite a few people were desperate to get off to make their flights, including a lot of people heading to Bali. I savoured my last few minutes on the A380, before I disembarked.
On my outbound flight, I had barely any time to have a look around the new Terminal 3. This time, however, I had more than enough. I didn’t want to spend the entire time inside the terminal though, so I filled in my arrivals card, and headed out though immigration.
I got a train from the airport down to Orchard Road, and spent an hour or two walking along, taking in the sights. I had a Singapore Chicken Rice for dinner, which was pretty good, then sat in a Starbucks for a while, and used the internet.
I caught one of the last trains back to the airport for the night, as I didn’t want to stay in a hotel in town. Originally, I though I might spend the night clubbing, but then remembered what happened in Armenia, and though better of it. http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/trip_reports/read.main/97333/
Thanks to the jetlag, I was now wide awake, despite it being after midnight when I got back to the airport. I thought that it would be a good opportunity to get to know the lie of the land, and have a stroll. I went to the viewing mall, which had views of black nothingness, which was a bit disappointing.
From there, I went to the Premier Lounge, and had a shower to wake myself up.. It was only SGD 8, which I thought was a pretty reasonable price.
As the first ‘normal’ passengers of the day started to trickle into the terminal for the early morning flights, I thought I was my duty as an anetter to all the entire way around the airport. After all, I had more than enough time.
First stop was Terminal 1 which whilst being the oldest terminal, is not without charm. SIN-HKG/IMGP0518.jpg" width="600" height="800" border=0>
Whilst walking around exploring, I found this enormous empty area on the top floor of T1. Anyone know what used to be there/they’re planning on putting there? SIN-HKG/IMGP0531.jpg" width="600" height="800" border=0>
Jkj777 From United States of America, joined Aug 2007, 397 posts, RR: 0 Reply 1, posted (4 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 9397 times:
Gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 2, posted (4 years 6 months 2 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 9354 times:
Quoting Jkj777 (Reply 1): something is wrong with all your links
Ryanair!!! From Singapore, joined Mar 2002, 4664 posts, RR: 27 Reply 3, posted (4 years 6 months 2 weeks 5 hours ago) and read 7781 times:
Gabriel,
I have made this mistake previously when I added the "-" into my link. Try using the underscore instead or just do away with it altogether. I have since learnt that *, -, :, ;, @, / etc are all symbols you should avoid when creating file names.
Ryan
Welcome to my starry one world alliance, a team in the sky!
Singapore_Air From United Kingdom, joined Nov 2000, 13711 posts, RR: 21 Reply 4, posted (4 years 6 months 1 week 6 days 13 hours ago) and read 7146 times:
Maybe you couldl ask the moderators to delete this thread so you can repost it?
Make sure you save the text somewhere though if you do !
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From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Aug 2007, 397 posts, 
From Singapore, joined Mar 2002, 4664 posts, 
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