Kuta, Bali (for Mar. 12)
They served us a lunch at 1:30 AM Darwin time (3 AM Sydney). That was unexpected! We arrived in Sydney at 6:30 AM after a flight of just over 4.5 hours. I managed to sleep about 3 hours. I am pretty pleased with that. Celeste watched the movie, so she hardly slept at all. She can’t stay awake for one at any time of the day watching TV, but on an airplane in the middle of the night she can stay awake through a movie she wasn’t even really interested in. We should try to bottle that.
Our connecting flight doesn’t leave until 12:45 PM, so we are killing time reading, doing crosswords, and blogging. I am also going to try to catch up with our MasterCard charges and match the Canadian dollar amounts with my Australian receipts – always good fun.
Well, I got all that good accounting stuff done, backed up all my text, credit card, banking, and bookkeeping files, and backed up all my Australia pictures. I have not backed up pictures since New Zealand. I just never seemed to have the time. If anything had happened to that laptop, we would have been scuppered. I feel a lot better now.
We are sitting in Changi Airport, Singapore, waiting for our next flight. We got off the ground about 1 PM Sydney time and were 7 hours en route. With the 3 hour time difference, we arrived at 5 PM local time. On one of the viewing screens they periodically showed our aircraft’s progress. We flew just south of Darwin about half way though the trip and flew right over Bali two hours out from Singapore. All pretty useless, but we had to book with one carrier and its partners to be able to check our bags all the way through and get the fare that comes with making a complete circuit. Although Qantas has a flight from Darwin to Bali (2-2.5 hours) it would have broken the continuity with the Star Alliance group. The Qantas flights were OK previously because Singapore Airlines doesn’t serve those destinations.
I was kind of looking forward to flying with Singapore Airlines anyway. They have a reputation for great service and I was interested in checking it out. I was not disappointed. They gave us a very nice lunch and another nice snack before landing. There was an overabundance of cabin attendants that were constantly circulating with complementary drinks, including liquor. And they twice brought hot wash cloths around for refreshment. Not at all like home. Despite being based in an oriental (I am not sure if that is the right description as they are actually next to Malaysia, but I don’t know how else to describe them.) country, all their announcements and service are in English first. They serve a worldwide market and cater to the largest group in the market.
I slept 2 hrs on this leg but Celeste didn’t sleep much. In the 3-4-3 seating alignment, we were in the 6th and 7th seats, in the interior, on the aisle, so we didn’t see much. Especially since nearly everyone closed their window blinds! On departure to Bali, I had a window, but I was over a wing bigger than my driveway, so I didn’t see much. Looking behind me though, I could see that there were dozens of ships in the huge harbour. Soon after departure it was dark and there was nothing to see.
We landed in Bali at 9:30 only to learn that they had lost my bag which had all the souvenirs that we had not sent home. By the time we did all the paperwork, found our guide, and drove to the hotel, it was 11 PM and we were in bed within half an hour after that.
Our time sure got scrambled around. For posterity it went something like this:
Fly Darwin to Sydney 12:30 AM to 5 AM Darwin time (4+30 en route). But we had to set our clocks 1.5 hours later for Sydney time (2 AM to 6:30 AM). We had a 6+30 wait in Sydney. Then we flew Sydney to Singapore 1 PM to 8 PM Sydney time, but we had to set our clocks back 3 hours for Singapore time. We waited 2+30 there, then flew Singapore to Bali 7:30 to 9:30. I make it 22+30 – and we could have done it in 2+30 on Qantas. Oh well, it was an adventure.
Our connecting flight doesn’t leave until 12:45 PM, so we are killing time reading, doing crosswords, and blogging. I am also going to try to catch up with our MasterCard charges and match the Canadian dollar amounts with my Australian receipts – always good fun.
Well, I got all that good accounting stuff done, backed up all my text, credit card, banking, and bookkeeping files, and backed up all my Australia pictures. I have not backed up pictures since New Zealand. I just never seemed to have the time. If anything had happened to that laptop, we would have been scuppered. I feel a lot better now.
We are sitting in Changi Airport, Singapore, waiting for our next flight. We got off the ground about 1 PM Sydney time and were 7 hours en route. With the 3 hour time difference, we arrived at 5 PM local time. On one of the viewing screens they periodically showed our aircraft’s progress. We flew just south of Darwin about half way though the trip and flew right over Bali two hours out from Singapore. All pretty useless, but we had to book with one carrier and its partners to be able to check our bags all the way through and get the fare that comes with making a complete circuit. Although Qantas has a flight from Darwin to Bali (2-2.5 hours) it would have broken the continuity with the Star Alliance group. The Qantas flights were OK previously because Singapore Airlines doesn’t serve those destinations.
I was kind of looking forward to flying with Singapore Airlines anyway. They have a reputation for great service and I was interested in checking it out. I was not disappointed. They gave us a very nice lunch and another nice snack before landing. There was an overabundance of cabin attendants that were constantly circulating with complementary drinks, including liquor. And they twice brought hot wash cloths around for refreshment. Not at all like home. Despite being based in an oriental (I am not sure if that is the right description as they are actually next to Malaysia, but I don’t know how else to describe them.) country, all their announcements and service are in English first. They serve a worldwide market and cater to the largest group in the market.
I slept 2 hrs on this leg but Celeste didn’t sleep much. In the 3-4-3 seating alignment, we were in the 6th and 7th seats, in the interior, on the aisle, so we didn’t see much. Especially since nearly everyone closed their window blinds! On departure to Bali, I had a window, but I was over a wing bigger than my driveway, so I didn’t see much. Looking behind me though, I could see that there were dozens of ships in the huge harbour. Soon after departure it was dark and there was nothing to see.
We landed in Bali at 9:30 only to learn that they had lost my bag which had all the souvenirs that we had not sent home. By the time we did all the paperwork, found our guide, and drove to the hotel, it was 11 PM and we were in bed within half an hour after that.
Our time sure got scrambled around. For posterity it went something like this:
Fly Darwin to Sydney 12:30 AM to 5 AM Darwin time (4+30 en route). But we had to set our clocks 1.5 hours later for Sydney time (2 AM to 6:30 AM). We had a 6+30 wait in Sydney. Then we flew Sydney to Singapore 1 PM to 8 PM Sydney time, but we had to set our clocks back 3 hours for Singapore time. We waited 2+30 there, then flew Singapore to Bali 7:30 to 9:30. I make it 22+30 – and we could have done it in 2+30 on Qantas. Oh well, it was an adventure.
posted by Celeste at
11:09 a.m.
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