In transit
August 8th, 2005(I’m posting an email I sent out from Singapore airport)
Well, if you ever have to fly cross-Atlantic or Pacific, you absolutely HAVE to fly Singapore. I’m a TOTAL convert. The 18hr+ flight was not an ordeal and actually flew by!!! There is a good reason that this airline is the top one worldwide. They treated everyone like royalty. There was NO element of ‘everyone crammed on coach visiting Asia’ - this was high class travel with high class service.
I think I mentioned this to Dad, but Singapore set up a personal entertainment system for everyone - so every seat, including coach, had their own personal screen and headset, run by the KrisEntertainment system. Over sixty blockbuster and classic movies on demand…not only
American but Japanese, Spanish, Indian, etc. I watched most of the campy Indian comedy/drama musicals and loved it….Also another campy Spanish movie called Di Que Si. What a riot. About two hundred and fifty CDs (again American and world music) on demand. About a hundred
television programs, from Sex and the City to travel documentaries to historical documentaries. They also had tons of games for the kids. They ALSO had online Berlitz language courses in case I wanted to brush up on Portuguese, Spanish, Mandarin (no, they didn’t have Indonesian).
The food was - surprisingly - excellent!! Three meals, choices of American, Korean/Singapore, or Indian cuisine. No more Indian for me - I had my fill at the wedding.
The Singapore airport is ridiculous - it’s huge. Everything from Chanel shops to international cuisine foodcourt to free Internet areas - it seriously looks like something from the Jetsons.
Anyways I’m checked into the transit hotel and taking a good six hour nap! (After sleeping really well on the plane - I had my own row both times, and have already slept a solid five hours). I’ll come back to check my email in six hours.
This international travel thing is nothing! I got it beat.
Of course, I’ll let you know what happens when I start publictransportation in a big city. Ain’t no pretty stewardesses on those buses…