So back to Singapore, for the first time in three years. Val has never been and I last visited in September 2019. Then of course Covid hit us. Singapore has been especially cautious about re-opening to visitors – indeed, they’ve been very cautious even with their own people, with extended lockdowns (‘Circuit Breakers’) and significant restrictions lasting until early summer this year. But now Singapore is open to visitors. We’re multiply-vaccinated and were raring to go (well, I was) so here we are.
On my previous visits I flew from Manchester with Emirates which meant going via Dubai. This extended the overall journey time to just over 17 hours from take-off at Manchester to landing at Singapore, with a two to three hour stopover at Dubai.. This time, because of post-covid price changes, flying direct with Singapore Airlines was the cheaper option albeit from Heathrow. Nonetheless we decided that we’d try it and find out how a 13-hour flight feels.
The answer is: not too bad. In fact thanks to the timing – take-off from Heathrow was mid-evening – we were already tired enough to sleep for a few hours during the flight, and thus arrived at Changi airport in Singapore not feeling too bad. The flight took off from Heathrow on time, the tail winds meant that the flight duration was a bit shorter than expected, the in-flight experience was good – comfortable-enough seats, edible food, and good in-flight entertainment – and the aircraft itself, although not new (a Boeing 777 300ER that might have been around 15 years old), was clean and everything that was there, worked. One thing that wasn’t there was a power socket – I’d been counting on having one to recharge the watch and the phone. To make up for that, however, Singapore Airlines’ policy regarding economy seating is quite generous – economy seats are set out 9-across (3-3-3) while most other airlines, including Emirates, have a ten-across (3-4-3) arrangement. So we didn’t feel too cramped, and I am fortunate in fitting into an economy seat quite comfortably. There are advantages to being just 5’7″ (these days) and having short legs…..
We took off from Heathrow at about 9pm and landed at Changi at just after 4:30 local time the following afternoon (the time difference between the UK and Singapore during BST is 7 hours, and they’re ahead of us). We were quickly though immigration. Most of the passengers on our flight, which was full, seemed to be Australians or New Zealanders and were therefore transferring to other flights, so there were not many passengers from the flight actually entering Singapore. We got our bags quickly, found our pre-arranged transfer, and were checking into our hotel shortly around 5:45. So just over an hour from touchdown to the hotel room – pretty good.
We ran round in circles for a while unpacking, then went out for a walk along the side of Marina Bay and then down to the Boat Quay where we found a restaurant for a meal. After that it was back to the hotel, through pouring rain; and sadly I’d forgotten to take my umbrella out with me. I was very wet by the time we got back to the hotel.
Hope all is still going well …..